Harper's Island 2: Return to the Island
by tlars2433
Summary: 10 years have passed since the Harper's Island killings, and another wedding is being held on the island. Once again, the guests get killed off one by one. Who's responsible for the killings, and will anyone be able to escape the island alive? COMPLETE!
1. Episode 0: The Characters

**Premise:** Ten years have passed since John Wakefield and his son Henry Dunn went on a killing spree and murdered nearly all the guests of the Wellington-Dunn wedding, along with a few locals. Now, a former resident of Harper's Island has chosen to hold his own wedding on the island where he grew up. Some of the guests are uneasy about returning to an island where such tragedy and violence occurred, but the wedding is going on nonetheless. Sure enough, one-by-one the wedding guests start getting killed off. Who lives, who dies, and who is responsible for the murders?

**Author's Note:** This is my sequel of Harper's Island. All characters except Shea Allen were created by me; I do not own any of the original Harper's Island characters that may be mentioned throughout the story, and I do not own any of the locations mentioned in the story.

This will be more of a murder mystery than a slasher-like story, like the original Harper's Island was. It's up to the readers to decide who the killer(s) is/are.

There are 26 suspects, and I will now provide a brief description of each. I've divided them into categories: main characters, wedding party, and secondary characters. The secondary characters aren't necessarily less important or less likely to survive or be a killer, but might not be featured in every episode.

**

* * *

  
Main Characters**

**Graham Deeley - "The Groom"**_  
Male, age 30_  
Graham grew up on Harper's Island and, despite the dozens of murders that have taken place in the past couple decades, he wants nothing more than to marry the woman of his dreams on the beautiful island where he grew up. Because he is currently unemployed and not very financially well off, he has not gotten a very positive response from Julie's family, but he wants nothing to stand in his way of marrying the love of his life.

**Julie Mathis - "The Bride"**  
_Female, age 30_  
Growing up, Julie was always the most spoiled of the three Mathis sisters and was essentially Gail's "favorite". Julie has never been to Harper's Island but has heard the stories of what has gone on there. She firmly believes that the killings are in the past, however, and she wants nothing more than to fulfill Graham's wish of having the wedding on his home island. Julie has not been very well-received by the Deeley family due to her wealth and "brattiness", but nothing will stop her from marrying the man of her dreams.

**Andrew McCaffrey - "The Best Man"**  
_Male, age 31_  
One of the locals of Harper's Island, Andrew became best friends with Graham when the two were growing up, and was chosen to be his best man at the wedding. Though he's thrilled that Graham chose the island as the place to have his wedding, Andrew can't help but feel opposed to it, as he doesn't approve of the Mathis family.

**Haley Mathis - "The Maid of Honor"**_  
Female, age 27_  
Haley was always a tomboy growing up and was not as materialistic as the rest of her family, and thus was ignored by her mother as a child. However, she always had a very close bond with her older sister, Julie, and therefore was selected as her maid of honor. Living on her own in New York, a couple thousand miles away from Seattle, this is Haley's first time seeing her family in 9 years, and she's still feeling bitter about being treated as the black sheep of the family for so long.

**Gail Mathis - "The Mother of the Bride"  
**_Female, age 58  
_Gail is the wealthy owner of a successful lingerie company and, as a result, is a very materialistic woman. Although she never married and has raised three daughters on her own, she has spoiled her children rotten. Because of this, she's pulled out all the stops and promised to give her daughter Julie the elaborate wedding she had always dreamed of, though she admittedly is not very happy about Julie's more financially deprived fiance.

**Bronson Deeley - "The Father of the Groom"**_  
Male, age 63_  
Shortly after Graham was born, Bronson's wife died of breast cancer, forcing him to raise his two children by himself. Being a single father took quite a toll on Bronson, and in his old age he now suffers from a slight case of dementia. While he often has trouble remembering things and can sometimes lash out at the people around him, Bronson can't be happier about his son's wedding.

**Shea Allen - "The Survivor"**_  
Female, age 44  
_Ten years after surviving the terrible Harper's Island murders, Shea is going back to the island due to her close friendship with the Mathis family, though she is very hesitant about returning and insisted her daughter Madison stay at home. Since losing nearly her entire family on the island, Shea has been suffering from depression and even a mild case of insanity, but she felt it was a good idea to go back, pay her respects to those who were killed, and enjoy the happiness of the occasion.

* * *

**The Wedding Party**

**Caleb Spence - "The Brain"**_  
Male, age 30  
_In Graham's group of college friends, Caleb was labeled the "smart one". Despite his perfect GPA and countless honors, he always had a wild sense of humor, and through Graham he met and fell in love with Julie's friend, Stacy. Caleb often combines his intelligence and his sense of humor to create outlandish projects and experiments, and plans to unleash a few surprises on the wedding guests.

**Mikey McCaffrey - "The Sidekick"**_  
Male, age 22_  
As Andrew's younger brother, Mikey has always had to live in his brother's shadow. As a child on Harper's Island, he would often tag along with his brother and Graham, but grew tired of constantly being viewed as the sidekick to the two best friends. Mikey feels as though he was only asked to be a groomsman as a formality, and that Graham really doesn't care much about him.

**Ryan MacPherson - "The Roommate"**_  
Male, age 30_  
Ryan was Graham's roommate for all four years of college and ultimately became his closest friend at school, and he is now one of Graham's groomsmen. Ryan is gay and is dating Dale, and he is a hopeless romantic who hopes to take advantage of this wedding getaway. He has done lots of research on the history of Harper's Island, but unlike many guests who feel uneasy, Ryan is quite fascinated by the island's past and looks forward to spending time there.

**Andrea Northcott - "The Brat"**_  
Female, age 24_  
Growing up, Andrea was always close with her cousin, Julie, so it was no surprise that she was asked to be a bridesmaid. After Andrea's mother was killed in a skiing accident, her father was quickly remarried to Laurie, a wealthy country singer, and as a result of this newfound wealth, Andrea became pampered and spoiled. Since then, Andrea has become almost obsessed with money and is willing to do almost anything she can to get her hands on more.

**Maria Dominguez - "The Vixen"**_  
Female, age 29  
_Maria was one of Julie's closest friends during college, though she never really fit in with Julie's close-knit group of rich friends. She is known to her friends as the "spicy Latina", as she has a very sharp tongue and short fuse, but she is also extremely attractive and practically irresistable to any man that lays eyes on her. She plans to use this to her advantage during the wedding, as she has been longing for a man in her life.

**Stacy Stone - "The Prankster"  
**_Female, age 31_  
All her life, Stacy has loved playing practical jokes on people. She became friends with Julie in college but was never the most popular person in her circle of friends due to her childish behavior. Julie and Graham introduced her to Caleb, whom she is now dating, and she's come up with plenty of ideas for pranks to pull on the wedding guests throughout the week.

**Bri Bingham - "The Flower Girl"**_  
Female, age 13_  
Bri is Graham's niece and was chosen to be the flower girl at the wedding. Growing up in a home where her mother was abused and her father was often in jail, Bri dealt with her emotional struggles by turning to witchcraft and has since taken an interest in the Wicca religion, despite much protest from her parents. Bri also claims she has the ability to predict the future and continuously warns her family that this wedding will end in disaster.

* * *

**Secondary Characters  
**

**Amanda Mathis - "The Loner"**_  
Female, age 32_  
Despite being attractive and very flirtatious, Amanda has never had a boyfriend. Growing up, she was always jealous of her younger sister, Julie, which prevented the two from becoming close. As a result, Amanda was not even asked to be included in her own sister's bridal party, which deeply upset Amanda. Though her feelings are hurt, Amanda has no problem with using her sister's wedding as a means to hook up with any men she can find.

**Dale Mooney - "The Outsider"**_  
Male, age 25_  
Dale is Ryan's younger boyfriend and was a little hesitant about attending the week-long destination wedding, as he doesn't know any of the guests and he often feels very uncomfortable in large group settings in which he feels left out. However, Dale's love for Ryan was enough reason for him to go, and he plans to use the romantic vibes of the week to ask Ryan to marry him.

**Didi Phelps - "The Wedding Planner"**_  
Female, age 44_  
Didi is the new owner of the Candlewick Inn and was the Deeleys' friend and neighbor while they lived on Harper's Island, so it was no question that she would serve as the planner for the Deeley-Mathis wedding. Didi is very spiritual and is well informed on what happened on the island ten years ago. She feels the island is haunted by the spirits of those who were killed, and wonders if these spirits will be welcoming to the wedding party or not.

**Franklin Bingham - "The Convict"  
**_Male, age 40_  
Franklin is the husband of Rachael and is strongly disliked by the rest of the Deeley family, as he has been abusive towards her for years and has been charged with domestic violence on several occasions, along with serving jail time for other various crimes. In spite of his poor criminal record, Franklin claims to love his family and is happy to attend the wedding, despite numerous objections from Graham.

**Jethro Walton - "The Professor"**  
_Male, age 50_  
During her college years, Julie always saw Jethro as her favorite biology professor. Being 50 years old and never married, Jethro had developed a secret infatuation with Julie while he had her as a student and gave her above-average grades because of it. He was thrilled when he was asked to attend her wedding, although he worries that his feelings for her may resurface once he arrives.

**Josh Weeks - "The Introvert"**  
_Male, age 23_  
Josh is a very quiet, shy individual, so people often don't believe it when they hear he is dating the sociable, outgoing, and wealthy Haley Mathis. He has never met the rest of the Mathis family but has heard countless stories from his girlfriend Haley, and as a result has formed rather negative opinions about them. Beneath his introverted exterior he has been known to hide a raging temper, and he hopes to keep that under control at the wedding of his girlfriend's sister.

**Laurie Northcott - "The Singer"**_  
Female, age 48_  
Over the years, country singer Laurie Northcott has become a local celebrity and plans to someday climb the ranks and achieve national stardom. For several years she had been having an affair with Gail's brother, Matthew, and as soon as his wife died, she took her place. She has since become very close with her stepdaughter, Andrea - who had been completely unaware of the affair - although she is strongly disliked by the rest of the Mathis family.

**Luke Bingham - "The Rebel"**_  
Male, age 18_  
Luke is the older child of Rachael and Franklin, and, like his sister Bri, he became emotionally scarred during his childhood. He dealt with his sorrows in a different way, by experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and sex. For years, he has hated his family and is dreading the wedding of his uncle, but was forced by his mother to attend. However, he doesn't plan to go unnoticed during this wedding and has a few tricks up his sleeve to make the lives of his family a living hell.

**Rachael Bingham - "The Housewife"**_  
Female, age 39_  
Graham's sister Rachael has had a tough life. She has been married to her husband Franklin for 20 years; although he constantly abuses her, she has stayed married to him out of fear of falling apart financially and out of fear that it would tear her family apart, but she admits that she feels trapped. Rachael is one of the many that is not overly enthused about the wedding.

**Rodolfo DiLorenzo - "The Doctor"**_  
Male, age 43_  
Dr. Rodolfo DiLorenzo has served as the doctor for the Mathis family ever since Gail gave birth to her first child, Amanda. Although he's married with children, he has been having a secret affair with Gail Mathis for the past two years, unbeknownst to her children, and she insisted that he be invited to the wedding. He is still employed as a doctor, but he recently has been accused of having connections with the mafia.

**Vance White - "The Godfather"**_  
Male, age 49_  
Vance is a local of Harper's Island and was the Deeleys' neighbor for several years. Bronson chose him as Graham's godfather when he was born, which was an honor to Vance, who became like a second father to Graham. He is extremely happy for Graham but knows very well the history of Harper's Island, and feels slightly unnerved by the fact that another extravagant wedding is being held there.

**Yulissa White - "The Diva"**_  
Female, age 30_  
Yulissa is Vance's daughter and would often hang out with Graham and Andrew when they were growing up. She was also a close friend of Henry Dunn, who ended up becoming one of the notorious Harper's Island killers. After graduating high school, she moved away and became close friends with Julie, and it was ultimately Yulissa who introduced the two. Having a very big personality and a diva-like attitude, she often likes to brag that this whole wedding is taking place because of her.

* * *

Comments would be greatly appreciated! Please provide as much insight as possible, including who you think the killer(s) is/are, who you think will die in episode 1, and who you think will survive, if anyone.

Episode 1 will be posted within 48 hours!


	2. Episode 1: Hack

**HARPER'S ISLAND 2**

**EPISODE ONE: "HACK"**

* * *

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Bronson

Caleb

Dale

Didi

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Haley

Jethro

Josh

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Maria

Mikey

Rachael

Rodolfo

Ryan

Shea

Stacy

Vance

Yulissa

* * *

The skies could not have been bluer, the sun could not have been brighter, and the day could not have been clearer on the beautiful Friday afternoon in the Seattle harbor. A two-story yacht was pulled up at the dock, roses and wreaths decorating its exterior, creating a beautiful effect in the sunlight.

Over a dozen people were on board, chatting, laughing, and enjoying themselves. It was clearly a special occasion, and quite an elaborate one at that. A young, pretty blond woman stood at the balcony of the second floor, holding a glass of champagne and gazing out at the wide blue ocean in front of her. In a matter of minutes, this boat would set sail to Harper's Island. 'The next time I come back to the mainland, I'll be a married woman!' she thought excitedly to herself as a smirk spread across her face and she took a sip of the bubbly liquid.

Julie Mathis came from a very wealthy family; she wouldn't be standing on this fabulous yacht right now if she didn't. Growing up, she had always been rather spoiled by her mother, and right now was no exception: this wedding event was being paid almost entirely by Gail Mathis alone. Though even as a 30-year-old woman she shamefully relied quite a bit financially on her mother, Julie couldn't help but feel grateful for being able to have the wedding she had always dreamed of.

As Julie stared thoughtfully out at the water, Gail sat on a chair on the first floor deck, looking up at her daughter and sipping her own glass of champagne. As much as she felt happy for Julie to finally be getting married, Gail admittedly was not overly enthused about the upcoming wedding. Julie's fiance, Graham Deeley, was not nearly as wealthy as Gail had imagined Julie's future husband to be, and that rather upset her. Money was everything to Gail; one could tell by just looking at the extravagant sparkling red dress she was wearing, accompanied with the endless amount of jewelry that beamed in the sunlight.

Back on the second floor deck, the handsome Graham sneaked up behind his fiance and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, which startled her and caused her to spill a bit of her champagne. She whirled around and laughed, playfully punching Graham in the shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that!" she giggled, and Graham smiled and leaned in to smooch her on the neck, unaware that his future mother-in-law was below, eying him like a hawk.

* * *

A tall, dark-haired woman stood on the road, staring at the marina in front of her, clutching the handle of her large suitcase. A chill went down her spine; she kept having flashbacks of ten years ago. It all started this exact same way: a seemingly perfect day in Seattle, everyone excited and ready for a destination wedding on Harper's Island, blissfully unaware of the dangers that were lurking ahead. Shea Allen had lost so many loved ones during that cursed week: her sister, Trish; her husband, Richard; her father, Thomas; even her stepmother, Katherine. But that was ten years ago. History couldn't possibly repeat itself. It was all in the past.

As she convinced herself one last time that things would be fine, Shea took a deep breath and began walking to the yacht.

"Shea! I'm so glad you could make it!" Gail called out after spotting her good friend Shea. The older woman set her champagne down on the glass table and stood up, approaching Shea and embracing her in a hug.

"It's good to see you, Gail," Shea said quietly, faking a smile.

"How is Madison doing?" asked Gail after pulling away from the hug.

"Oh, she's doing great. Just started her first year at college," replied Shea.

As the two women continued their chat, maid of honor Haley Mathis sat at a nearby table, joined by her quiet boyfriend, Josh, and Graham's 18-year-old nephew, Luke. As Haley rapidly pressed the keys on her phone, texting a friend, Luke and Josh watched Gail and Shea.

"Dude, I would so bang her," said Luke with a grin, staring at Shea.

Haley immediately looked up from her phone with a disgusted look on her face. "Ew! I hope you know that Shea's old enough to be your mom," she snapped.

"Who cares? She's not," laughed Luke.

Josh did nothing but chuckle and shake his head at Luke's comment. Haley glared at her boyfriend. "Don't encourage him, Joshy," she quipped before her eyes once again became transfixed on the screen of her phone.

Suddenly, a young blond girl dressed entirely in black walked up to the table. Her arms were crossed and she had almost a scowl on her face.

"What do you want, Bri?" said Luke, his eyes still glued on Shea's backside.

"Mom wants to talk to you," the girl replied in a monotonous voice.

Luke scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Tell her to go fuck herself."

Bri noticed her older brother staring at something. She followed his line of vision, then looked back to him. "Are you thinking about banging her?"

"Duh. She's fucking hot. Now go away, kid. I'm busy." The smile returned to Luke's face as Josh once again made a chuckling sound, which was met with a punch in the arm from Haley, as her other hand continued to text.

"Fine. But don't blame me when Mom acts all bitchy to you later," Bri said before walking away.

* * *

On the upper level of the yacht, a three-person band consisting of a violinist, a guitarist, and a pianist began to play a tune as a woman stepped up to a microphone stand perched on the wooden floor of the deck. Everyone seated around her began to cheer, the loudest coming from an attractive redhead.

"You go, Mom!" shouted Andrea Northcott as she let out another loud cheer for her famous stepmother, local celebrity Laurie Northcott, who began to sing.

"She loved him like he was

The last man on Earth

Gave him everything she ever had"

As the beautiful country star sang the words, Julie and Graham giggled and danced on the deck in front of her, and she smiled as she watched them and continued to sing. Sitting at a nearby table, Andrea leaned in towards Maria Dominguez, a fellow bridesmaid.

"They are such a cute couple!" said Andrea, to which Maria smiled and nodded.

Sitting at a nearby table was the oldest wedding guest, Graham's 63-year-old father, Bronson Deeley. After his wife passed away about 30 years ago, he was forced to raise his two children on his own, and it had taken quite a mental strain on the man. He currently sat at the table, staring into space, not even paying much attention to his son dancing to the music with his future bride. The years had chipped away at his sanity, especially with all the emotional strife that his daughter, Rachael, was having to deal with.

"Bronson! It's so good to see you again!" came a voice from behind him, causing him to jump and whirl around. Gail Mathis towered over him, holding her champagne, her jewelry glistening in the sun, a wide smile across her face.

"Ah. Hello Gail," stuttered Bronson, clearing his throat. Gail pulled a chair up and sat down beside him, looking at the young couple swaying back and forth on the dance floor.

"You must be so proud of your boy," she said sweetly. "They make such a fantastic couple."

Bronson was too dazed to notice the obvious fake tone of Gail's voice. He simply mumbled something and nodded; Gail eyed him suspiciously before returning her gaze to her daughter and future son-in-law.

"And I'm sure Graham must be a happy man, marrying into such a fantastic fortune..." said Gail, but she was interrupted by Bronson, who suddenly snapped back to reality and furiously slammed his fist on the table, causing everyone around him, including the band, to stop what they were doing and focus their attention on the scene.

"What is it with you and money, you greedy little wench?!" yelled Bronson, who suddenly stood up and stormed away, leaving Gail to sit by herself. She showed no reaction to what had just happened; she simply smiled, chuckled a bit, and took a sip of her champagne.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Continue with the music, please!"

* * *

"I just don't want him starting up trouble, Frank. This is an important week and I don't want him to embarrass us," said Rachael Bingham, standing next to her husband in a small cabin in the yacht, her arms crossed, a distressed look on her face.

Rachael's muscular husband Franklin moved in closer to her and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Don't worry about Luke, baby. He knows what the consequences are if he starts acting up."

The door of the cabin suddenly slid open, and Rachael and Franklin's daughter Bri stood at the threshold. "Luke said to go fuck yourself." Without waiting for a response, Bri slid the door shut again. Rachael sighed, rolled her eyes, and glared at her husband.

"See what I mean?" she groaned.

"Relax, Rach. Everything will be fine. This is your brother's wedding. Enjoy it," said Franklin smoothly. He leaned forward and began to passionately kiss his wife. Franklin began to take the jacket of his business suit off, and he reached over to turn the light switch off as the couple pushed themselves against a wall.

* * *

A tall blond woman stood at the bow of the yacht, which finally began to set sail to its destination of Harper's Island. Amanda Mathis was actually dreading the wedding of her younger sister. Julie had always stolen the spotlight from her, stolen the attention of their mother Gail, and, worst of all, was always able to get whatever men she wanted. Amanda was 32 years old and still single, having never had a boyfriend of her own. She hated weddings. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. But in this case, she wasn't even a bridesmaid. At her own sister's wedding.

Amanda sighed heavily as she folded her arms across her chest, gazing absently at the horizon. She didn't even notice the hairy, rubber spider that had suddenly perched itself on her bare shoulder. It wasn't until it began to move that she let out a scream and threw it off herself. The loud scream was immediately followed by the sounds of two voices laughing hysterically. Standing directly behind Amanda was Stacy Stone and her boyfriend Caleb Spence.

"Works every time! I love it!" bellowed Caleb, holding his stomach and roaring with laughter.

"Are you guys fucking kidding me?!" Amanda yelled furiously, and she stormed off, away from the laughing couple. Hatred and bitterness was surging through her body; Julie had selected Stacy Stone, the most immature 31-year-old Amanda had ever known, to be a bridesmaid instead of her own sister.

Stacy watched Amanda stomp away, still laughing. "What's her deal? She needs to lighten up!"

"Don't worry about it, babe, she'll get over it. I'll admit though, she's still my favorite person to prank," he added with a laugh, and he leaned in to hug Stacy and pecked her on the cheek.

* * *

The voyage took approximately an hour, but within that short sixty-minute period, the weather eerily shifted from cloudless, bright skies to dreary, foggy dankness. A cold shiver ran down Shea Allen's spine. Part of her wanted to turn back and return home; she was getting terrible vibes about this whole trip. But the Mathis family had become her closest friends since the original Harper's Island murders, and they helped her immensely with the grieving process. She owed this to them.

"Graham! C'mere for the good stuff, buddy!" shouted a tall man standing on the dock, reaching his arms out as the yacht pulled up and Graham disembarked. Graham embraced his best man Andrew McCaffrey in a giant bear hug.

"I've missed you, dude! It's so great to see you again!" said Graham, patting his best friend on the back.

A shorter, younger man stood beside Andrew, his arms crossed, a slight smirk on his face as he watched the two friends hugging. Graham finally pulled away from the hug and walked over to Mikey McCaffrey, Andrew's younger brother, and gave him a hug as well, albeit much shorter than the first.

"I missed you too, Mikey! It's been way too long, seriously," Graham said after pulling away from the hug. Julie suddenly appeared behind Graham with a toothy grin on her face, and Andrew's happy expression almost instantly dissipated the moment he laid eyes on her. This was that rich snob that was marrying his best friend; he had never quite approved of Graham's decision to marry her.

"Hi guys! Good to see you again! Andrew, right? And you're Mikey?" she said as cheerfully as possible. Andrew nodded quickly, then returned his attention to Graham.

"Well, come on, bud. The trolleys are all here to take everyone to the Candlewick! Didi's been dying to see you." And Graham, Andrew, Mikey, and Julie all made their way off the docks, followed by all the other wedding guests.

The trolleys transported all the guests and their luggage to the middle of the island, where a massive, mansion-like hotel loomed amongst the trees and the mountains. It was a truly beautiful sight, but somewhat foreboding at the same time due to the dark clouds above and the unusual amount of fog.

Shea Allen shuddered again at the sight of the hotel, the place where it all began for her ten years ago. Bri Bingham, who sat in the seat right behind her on the trolley, leaned forward and whispered something into Shea's ear.

"You probably shouldn't have come here. I'd go back home if I were you."

* * *

Didi Phelps had taken over management duties of the Candlewick Inn after the death of the previous owner, Maggie Krell. The inn had been shut down for five years following the Harper's Island murders, but Didi had reopened its doors. She was a very spiritual woman and believed very much in ghosts; she had no doubts that the Candlewick itself was often vacated by the spirits of those who had died ten years ago. As she gave the wedding guests a brief tour of the inn, she would casually bring up the names of some of the spirits that occupied the rooms.

"This is where Cal Vandeusen and Chloe Carter can sometimes be seen dancing together," she said nonchalantly when showing the guests the extravagant ballroom. Hearing those two names brought back terrible memories for Shea, and she loudly cleared her throat to get Didi's attention.

"Excuse me, but can you please not mention any of their names? Please?" snapped Shea, and Didi, looking slightly offended, simply nodded and continued the tour.

The guests were eventually shown to their rooms. Julie and Graham received the key to the honeymoon suite, and Julie immediately ran and threw herself onto the king-sized bed topped with golden, silk sheets.

"This is total paradise, babe. I am so excited for this week!" she said. Graham plopped himself down next to his fiance and leaned in towards her.

"I can't wait to call you my wife." He grinned and kissed her on the lips. The couple broke away from the kiss and stared longingly at the ceiling for a few seconds before Julie spoke up again.

"Graham, do your friends hate me?" she asked suddenly.

"What? Who do you mean? Andrew and Mikey?" Graham asked, to which Julie nodded. "No, of course not! What makes you think that?"

"They were really standoffish to me when we got here. I just got the vibe that... I dunno. That they don't want me here."

Graham rolled over to face his fiance and kissed her again. "Don't be stupid, Jules. They couldn't be happier about this wedding. Trust me. Hey, listen. I love you. My friends love you. Everyone loves you, Jules. I don't want you thinking otherwise, okay?"

They began kissing again, but this time did not break away as they began to slowly remove their clothes.

* * *

Ryan MacPherson was Graham's roommate during all four years of college, and during those four years formed a very close bond with him. Nothing made Ryan happier than to see his roommate getting married, and it made him even happier to be spending the week-long destination wedding with his boyfriend of eight years, Dale Mooney. The two began dating during Ryan and Graham's senior year of college, when Dale was only 17 years old. Graham himself had not really approved of the considerable age difference between the two, but Ryan was in love. There was no question about that.

"Look at this view! God, this room is so nice!" said Dale excitedly, setting his bag down and looking out the window. Ryan walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around Dale's waist.

"This room is even nicer with you in here with me." Ryan kissed Dale on the cheek.

Dale was not very familiar with any of the other guests. He had briefly met Graham during Ryan's last year of college, but otherwise had not been formerly introduced to anyone currently on Harper's Island. But it didn't matter at all to him; all that mattered was that he was here with his man, and he knew this week would be the perfect time to propose and begin making wedding plans of his own. He had dreamed for years of being married to Ryan, and now was as good a time as any for his dream to come true.

After all, weddings were all about love and happiness.

* * *

Night fell on Harper's Island, and the younger guests had all agreed to spend their first night at the popular Harper's Island bar, the Cannery. Granted, it was the site of a few of the murders from a decade ago, but the young population of the island helped to bring the place back to life.

It was there that Graham was reunited with another one of his childhood friends from growing up on the island, the beautiful Yulissa White. Yulissa was also a good friend of Julie's, as the two women had attended school together in Washington.

"Oh my god, Graham! You're here!" she shouted when she saw Graham and the other wedding guests walk into the bar, music blasting from the jukebox. Graham approached the bar and Yulissa leaned over it, wrapping her arms around Graham and giving him a hug. "It's been way too long, Grahammy! Drinks on the house for you and all your guests!"

Caleb let out a whoop and pumped his fist when he heard this, as Stacy giggled and patted him on the stomach. The wedding guests dispersed and went to sit down at various tables, as Graham and Julie sat down on two bar stools.

"So how have you guys been? You here to give me some more credit for hooking you two up?" said Yulissa with a smile and a wink. "You guys know this wedding wouldn't be happening without me."

"Yeah, yeah, flatter yourself a little bit more, Yulie," joked Julie as Yulissa handed the couple each a large drink.

"So how's Andrew been? Still in a slump?" said Yulissa in a quieter voice, her eyes wandering over to Andrew, who sat silently at a small table with his brother Mikey. Graham looked over his shoulder at his best friend, then turned back to face Yulissa.

"I think he's still kinda edgy about the whole wedding. Maybe it's a jealousy thing?"

"I know why. He doesn't like me. He's made that pretty obvious," said Julie. Graham shot her a look.

"Jules, I told you, he likes you. I don't see why you think he doesn't."

Over at the small table, Mikey stared at his older brother, who stared absently at the floor. "Dude. What's wrong?" His brother's comment made Andrew snap out of his hypnosis.

"What? Oh, nothing. Just tired, I guess."

"Look, Andrew, I know what your deal is. You don't want Graham to marry Julie. I get it. You just gotta get past it, man. He loves her, why won't you just let it go and be happy for him?"

"I'm just worried about him. The Mathises... I dunno. I just don't trust them, man. They're a shady family," said Andrew with a sigh.

"How do you know? You barely even know them," replied Mikey. In response to this, Andrew reached into the pocket of his black hoodie and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. He began to unfold it and set it down on the table for his brother to see.

"Yeah, but I found this online the other day. About Julie's mom."

It was a newspaper article from the Seattle Times, with the headline reading, in large bold letters, "Intimate Apparel Designer Charged with Embezzlement." Beneath the headline was a dated, black-and-white photo of Gail Mathis. Mikey scrunched up his face when he looked at the date.

"This article is from twenty years ago...." he began, but Andrew quickly cut him off.

"That's not the point. She stole over a million dollars from the company she worked for. Then she probably bribed the media to not mention it, because this is the only information about it I could find."

Mikey raised an eyebrow and looked up at his brother. "Dude... don't you think you're taking this a little too far?"

Andrew exhaled deeply and shook his head. "I'm worried about Graham. That's all."

* * *

Gail sat alone in her large bedroom, laying on her bed in a red, silky nightgown and reading a book, when suddenly a knock came at her door. When she opened it, a tall man of Italian descent stood leaning against the threshold, grinning at her.

"Hey there, hot stuff. Lookin' good in that nightie."

Gail blushed and smiled. "Oh, doctor..."

Dr. Rodolfo DiLorenzo entered the room, wrapping his arms around the woman's waist, and began kissing her neck. He was a married man, his wife and three kids left back home in Seattle, and had been having a secret affair with Gail Mathis, a long-time patient of his, for the last two years.

As the two of them began to make out, a short, plump, balding man walked into the room next door: the honeymoon suite. Apparently the couple had forgotten to lock the door before going out to enjoy the night scene, allowing Professor Jethro Walton to enter.

Professor Walton had always been Julie's favorite teacher all throughout college, and ultimately chose to invite him to the wedding; little did she know, however, that Jethro had had a hidden infatuation with Julie ever since she first step foot into his classroom. He walked over to the king-size bed and noticed Julie's suitcase laying wide open on the mattress. His heart began to beat heavily when he saw a pair of silk underwear lying at the top of the pile. Jethro picked up the garment and shoved it up to his nostrils, inhaling deeply and savoring the beautiful aroma of Julie Mathis.

A plaid, collared shirt suddenly caught Jethro's eyes, and he turned his gaze to a nearby chair, on top of which Graham's clothes had been thrown. Jethro suddenly felt a hole in his stomach; as much as he enjoyed being at this wedding with Julie, he loathed the idea that she was getting married. Having been a single man all his life, Professor Walton longed for a woman in his life.

And he wanted no one but Julie Mathis.

* * *

The moon was full and bright in the sky, though it was masked slightly by a few wispy gray clouds. Rachael Bingham sat out on the balcony of her bedroom, sipping a glass of champagne and looking out at the scenery. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and a single drop trickled down her cheek.

Rachael never had an easy life, at least not for the past 20 years. Franklin was, at times, a wonderful husband indeed, but he was also quite abusive towards her. She could no longer keep track of the number of times he had attacked her both physically and verbally. Most of the time it was fueled by alcohol, but then there were times when he would just lash out at her. Coupled with the fact that both her children were very rambunctious and rebellious, it took a heavy emotional toll on Rachael.

A gentle knock was heard on the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony. Rachael frantically wiped her tears away and whirled around to see Shea Allen standing in the doorway.

"Mind if I join you?" asked Shea.

"Oh! No problem at all, have a seat," replied Rachael as cheerily as she could, trying her hardest to hide the fact she had just been crying. Shea sat down on the chair next to Rachael and joined her in looking out at the trees.

"It feels like just yesterday that I was here for my sister's wedding," Shea said thoughtfully after several seconds of silence between the two women.

"It must be so hard for you to be back here after all that tragedy," said Rachael.

Shea nodded. "It is. It's so hard. But it's also a good way for me to pay my respects. Not just to my family, but to everyone else who died here."

Several more silent seconds passed before Shea once again broke it.

"Your daughter said something to me earlier today. She warned me... she said I shouldn't have come here, and that I should go back home. I wanted to ask you about that."

Rachael suddenly looked over at Shea, her eyes wide. "She... she said that?" Rachael sighed and pressed her hand to her forehead. "Bri claims she can see the future. I don't buy a word of it. She's gotten really into witchcraft or Wicca or whatever it's called these days... it's gotten me really concerned. I don't believe in any of that stuff though, so I would take what she says with a grain of salt."

"My daughter Madison had similar... premonitions, I guess you could call them. Ten years ago, on this island," Shea said quietly, her voice quivering slightly out of fear. "I'm worried, Rachael. I'm worried that history might repeat itself."

* * *

3 A.M. approached, and darkness and silence quickly began to engulf the island. The wedding guests left the Cannery, several of them stumbling drunkenly after their eventful outing. Caleb and Stacy, arguably the drunkest out of everyone, broke apart from the group and wandered off alone into the woods. Caleb couldn't stop laughing, and Stacy was starting to become very curious about what could possibly have been so funny.

"Come on, come on, tell me!" she slurred after the two of them stopped in a small clearing in the dark woods. "This better be good, Caleb, 'cause this forest is creepin' me out!"

"Shh, shh, listen. I just thought of the perfect prank to pull on these people. You know how so many of them are all freaked out by the murders that happened here. So let's pretend that we're getting murdered! It'll be so funny! They'll all bug out!" Caleb said, still laughing uncontrollably.

Stacy burst into laughter herself. "Oh my god, Caleb, you are so evil, but I love it!"

The two of them suddenly quieted down and stared each other in the eyes. Caleb leaned in to peck his girlfriend on the lips, then the two of them began to count in unison.

"One... two... three."

Caleb and Stacy both began to scream at the top of their lungs at the same time. "Help! Help us! Somebody help!"

Laughing, Caleb turned around, cupping his hands to his mouth to amplify the sound of his fake cries for help. Meanwhile, Stacy stood behind him, covering her mouth to hide the sounds of laughter escaping her mouth. All the while, she was totally unaware of the rustling in the bushes just behind her.

Caleb's final cries echoed amongst the trees, but he came to a dead stop when he heard the terrifying sound of metal slicing through something, followed immediately by a loud thud. Caleb slowly turned his head around to look over his shoulder, and his stomach lurched when he saw the bloody head of his girlfriend Stacy Stone still rolling on the grass, her headless body still standing upright for a few seconds before it crumpled to the ground as well.

This time a genuine scream of fear echoed through the island, as Caleb stood absolutely still, trying to comprehend what had just happened. His eyes kept darting back and forth between the beheaded corpse and the bloodied head of his girlfriend. Tears immediately filled his eyes, blurring his already impaired vision due to the alcohol surging through his bloodstream.

Caleb was far too distracted with what was on the ground in front of him to notice the shadowy figure slowly approaching him, unable to be distinguished in the darkness of the forest. Caleb did, however, see the brief glistening of metal in the moonlight, a mere fraction of a second before a sharp knife was plunged into his stomach.

The breath immediately escaped him and he gasped, desperately trying to inhale, but finding himself incapable. Someone had done this to him and Stacy. Someone was here to kill them. As he felt the life quickly being sucked out of him, he tried with all his strength to look up at his murderer, but between the alcohol, the tears, and the fact he had just been brutally stabbed, he simply could not make out the killer's identity.

He did, however, hear five distinct words before everything went black.

"This is just the beginning."


	3. Episode 2: Tumble

**HARPER'S ISLAND 2**

**EPISODE TWO: "TUMBLE"**

[hr]

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Bronson

Dale

Didi

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Haley

Jethro

Josh

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Maria

Mikey

Rachael

Rodolfo

Ryan

Shea

Vance

Yulissa

[hr]

Julie sat in the main lobby of the Candlewick, where a complementary breakfast was being served. She sat alone at a table; it was still early in the morning, and everyone else must have still been asleep. Didi suddenly entered the room and immediately noticed the blond woman sitting alone.

"Good morning, ma'am," Didi said politely, walking over to Julie and smiling at her.

Julie looked up at Didi and grinned slightly. "You can call me Julie, Didi."

"Of course, Julie. How was your night? You're up early."

Julie sighed. "Yeah... I wasn't able to get much sleep last night. Just thinking about this whole wedding."

Didi suddenly pulled up a chair and sat down beside Julie, looking concerned. "You're not having second thoughts...?"

"Oh, no no," said Julie quickly. "No, I love Graham and I absolutely want to marry him. But our families and friends... well, they all clash. My family's not so crazy about Graham, and his friends don't seem to like me much either."

Didi reached out and placed her hand on Julie's. "Honey, you can't let what other people think get you down. You love Graham, and that's all that matters. As for everyone else... well, pardon my french, but screw 'em! If they really didn't want to see this wedding happen, do you really think they all would've bothered to take time off work and come all the way out here just for you two?"

Julie paused, then nodded. She looked up at Didi and smiled. "You're right, Didi. Thanks."

Didi smiled at Julie, who then leaned in to hug Didi.

[hr]

Amanda Mathis lay in her bed, staring across the room at her roommate for the week, Maria Dominguez, a million thoughts rushing through her mind. Maria was another woman Julie had chosen as a bridesmaid over her; it made her feel even more resentful of her sister. Why had Amanda been so neglected? Despite being the oldest Mathis daughter, Gail had practically tossed her aside and focused all her attention on Julie as soon as she was born. She hated her family. She didn't even know why she was here.

Maria suddenly shuffled in her bed, then opened her eyes and looked over at Amanda. She grinned. "Good morning."

Amanda grinned back at her, but anger and contempt surged through her bloodstream. 'I need to stick it out,' Amanda thought to herself. She figured that leaving the island would only make things worse between her and her family. Why not endure this week and enjoy it as much as she could?

Plus, there were a lot of attractive guys here. Plenty of opportunities to hook up.

"So you have fun last night?" said Maria in her thick Latina accent, breaking the seemingly endless silence between them.

Amanda said nothing, but simply nodded.

"I noticed that one guy, Andrew I think his name is? The best man? He was really hitting on you, girl," said Maria.

For the first time since she arrived on the island, a genuine smile spread across Amanda's lips, and she lifted her head off her pillow. "Really?" she asked, intrigued.

Maybe things would start to improve after all for Amanda Mathis.

[hr]

Yulissa White unlocked the large, heavy door of the Cannery and flipped over the "CLOSED" sign so that it read "OPEN" from the outside. She snatched a white rag from a nearby bucket, wrung it out, and began to wipe down the old mahogany bar.

After only a couple minutes, she was startled by a sudden rapping on the door. Setting the rag down, Yulissa walked to the door and yanked it open to find a tall, African American man standing at the threshold, smiling at her. As soon as she saw the man's face she returned the smile.

"Hi Dad," she said in a welcoming tone.

Vance White was a long-time local of Harper's Island. He was around during both sets of murders that plagued the place, but managed to survive with both his life and his sanity intact, while several other locals had not been so lucky. He had his family; he had his daughter. That was all that mattered to him.

It was also Vance White that would be marrying Graham Deeley, his godson, to the lovely Julie Mathis.

"What's up?" asked Yulissa after a few seconds of no response from her father.

"Does something need to be 'up' for a father to come visit his daughter?" he asked, still smiling. "I hardly ever get to see you anymore, Yulie."

"Well, Dad, I've been busy with the bar..."

"I know, I know. I just want to check up and make sure you're okay..."

Yulissa cut him off. "Dad, really? Why wouldn't I be okay? I'm a grown woman."

Vance sighed. "I know, Yulie. Forget I even came here." There was a long pause as Vance frowned. "So, uh... I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the wedding rehearsal then?"

Yulissa nodded, and Vance turned and began to walk away. He loved his daughter more than anything in the world, but more often than not he felt as though that love was unrequited. He began to look over his shoulder, hoping to see his daughter still standing there, feeling guilty about giving him attitude. But before he could even look back, he heard the door slam shut.

Upon returning to the bar to continue her cleaning, Yulissa caught a glimpse of the two framed pictures propped up on one of the shelves behind the bar. She examined the first: it was a photo of herself at the age of about 5 or 6, with her closest childhood friends, Graham Deeley and Andrew McCaffrey, on either side of her. Yulissa smiled, then turned her attention to the picture standing directly beside it. It was another childhood photo of herself, but this time she was accompanied by a different young boy, grinning ear-to-ear. It was the boy that would one day grow up to become the infamous Harper's Island killer. It was her other best friend growing up on the island: Henry Dunn.

[hr]

Several of the wedding guests took a small day trip to the Harper's Island cemetery, which had once been a rather empty site. But ten years ago, the number of tombstones in the small field almost doubled. A section of the cemetery had been reserved for the gravestones of the 30 or so people that had lost their lives to the savage John Wakefield and Henry Dunn.

Shea Allen was among the guests that had gone to the cemetery. She could not hold back the tears; they poured down her face as she stood among the tombstones bearing the names of her loved ones. This was essentially the prime reason she had decided to come back to the island: she needed to pay respects to her family, her friends, and all the other innocent lives that were lost because of the senseless murders.

It was literally silent as a tomb in the open clearing of the forest. Shea stood in front of the largest tombstone of them all, which was almost pure white in color. It was the grave of her sister, Trish Wellington, the woman who had come here to marry the man of her dreams, only to watch her loved ones die one by one, and then get murdered herself, at the very hands of the man she loved. Shea sobbed uncontrollably; she was eventually brought to her knees and buried her face in her hands, the tears flowing into her palms as she knelt at her sister's grave.

Rachael Bingham came up behind her and sympathetically placed a hand on Shea's shoulder. The two had grown close in just the past couple of days, and Rachael almost saw Shea as the best friend she never had. Various wedding guests started leaving the cemetery, until Rachael and Shea were two of the only ones remaining. Behind the two women stood Rachael's two children, Luke and Bri, both of whom looked bored and uninterested. Bri twirled her long dirty blond hair around her finger, while Luke stood stiffly with his arms folded across his chest. He then let out a heavy sigh and glanced at his watch.

"So... are we done here?" he grumbled impatiently.

Rachael looked over her shoulder and shot Luke an angry look. "Luke. Have some god damn respect," she snapped angrily, and she returned her attention to Shea.

Luke looked over at his sister, who looked back at him and rolled her eyes.

[hr]

In a more secluded area of the cemetery - one that was crowded with trees and, as a result, was much darker - Ryan MacPherson stared at the only two graves in the area: the graves of the two people responsible for all the deaths that occurred on this island. The larger tombstone belonged to John Wakefield, while the smaller one next to it represented his son, Henry Dunn. Ryan's boyfriend, Dale, stood a few feet behind him, his hands in his pockets, staring at the back of Ryan's head.

"It's so fascinating, isn't it?" Ryan asked suddenly, breaking the intense silence in the small, enclosed area.

"What is?" asked Dale, as if snapping out of a trance.

"The fact that these two guys killed almost three dozen people on this island. Probably even more. It just blows me mind that anyone could be so sick and twisted to kill that many people, for practically no reason." Ryan shook his head in disgust, and yet his eyes remained glued on the two graves.

Dale slowly approached his boyfriend and placed his hands on Ryan's shoulders. He began to massage them.

"Try not to think about it too much, babe. They're both dead; they're done killing people," he said soothingly. Ryan whirled around suddenly and began to passionately kiss Dale. In the heat of the moment, Dale began to take Ryan's shirt off, and Ryan himself began to undo his belt.

The two men began to further undress themselves and each other as they went to the ground, continuing to kiss and embrace each other.

And all the while, the gravestones of John Wakefield and Henry Dunn eerily loomed over them, casting their shadows upon the couple.

[hr]

"You better call me back, Howard. I'm expecting to hear back from you," snapped Laurie Northcott before suddenly clicking her cell phone off.

The beautiful country singer began to pace back and forth across her room, as her stepdaughter, the equally beautiful, redheaded Andrea Northcott, sat on her king-sized bed and watched her.

"Well? What did he say?" asked Andrea after a few seconds of silence.

"Just... take my advice, doll: don't get a lawyer. They're totally worthless," said Laurie before she angrily threw her cell phone onto her own bed.

The Northcott family had been going through some major legal issues in recent months. Laurie's husband (and Andrea's biological father), Matthew Northcott, had recently been sentenced to two months in prison for forgery, but Laurie had every reason to believe that Matthew was innocent. She had plenty more evidence of her husband's innocence than her incompetent lawyer had, anyway.

Matthew Northcott was also the brother of Gail Mathis, who was once known as Gail Northcott. However, she changed her name at the age of 19 when she got into some legal issues of her own with her parents, and deciding afterward that she wanted nothing more to do with them. Matthew loved his sister and kept in touch with her, although Gail hardly ever contacted Matthew unless it was for financial reasons.

Laurie Northcott was convinced that Gail Mathis was responsible for Matthew being in prison.

"She wrote a bad check, it bounced, she panicked, and then she blamed your father for forging her name..." Laurie began to ramble, but Andrea cut her off.

"Laurie, Laurie.... I know," she said, holding up a hand. "You need to stop convincing yourself that that's the truth. You don't know for sure that Aunt Gail did this to Dad..."

"Andrea, think about it! Why would your father forge a check? You knowhe would never do a thing like that! And who's the one who pressed charges? Your bitchy, sneaky, manipulative Aunt Gail," said Laurie, her face turning red with anger.

Andrea sighed and rubbed her hand through her long silky hair. "So what are you gonna do, then?"

"Well, Howard's obviously no help," said Laurie, shooting an evil glare at the phone she had thrown onto the bed. "The next best thing I can think of is to get Gail to confess that she framed him and is falsely accusing your father. There's no reason why he should be in prison right now. He should be here for his niece's wedding, dammit!"

Laurie stomped her foot in frustration. Andrea got out of her chair and approached her stepmother.

"Listen, Laurie. We'll get Dad out of this. We will get our revenge on Gail." She grinned at Laurie, who looked into her bright eyes and smiled back.

[hr]

Bronson Deeley sat in his large room alone, a hot, damp washcloth laid across his wrinkly forehead. The father of the groom was not that old; in 2009, 63 was still considered young. But the years had taken quite a toll on him both physically and mentally, and lately he had been having terrible headaches that were often brought on by stress.

The fact that his only son was about to marry into an incredibly materialistic, snobbish, and egotistical family worried him. He had nothing but love for both of his children, but with all of the strife that Rachael had been going through in recent years, the added stress of this upcoming wedding was the last thing he needed.

Bronson was startled by a knock on his door. When he answered it, Andrew McCaffrey stood in the doorway. Frankly, it was one of the last people Bronson was expecting to see.

"Andrew? What can I do for you?" he stuttered.

"Do you mind if I come in?"

"No, certainly not. Come in," said Bronson, stepping aside welcomingly, allowing Andrew to enter.

The two men sat down on two of the plush chairs in the bedroom. Andrew took a piece of paper out of his pocket and set it down on the coffee table located between the two chairs.

"What's this?" Bronson asked, looking at the paper, the picture of a young Gail Mathis immediately catching his eye.

"I didn't want to show this to Graham because I knew he'd just get pissed, and I don't want to upset him days before his wedding. But I found this online, and I'll admit, it got me worried."

Bronson picked up the article and began to read it, as Andrew sat there silently to let the man soak it all in. After finishing the article, Bronson slowly lowered the paper away from his face, an awestruck look plastered on his face.

"This proves that there's some shady business going on in the Mathis family. Maybe Julie is nothing like her mom, and I hope for Graham's sake that she's not. But man... to think that my best friend is gonna have this psycho as a mother-in-law..." said Andrew, shaking his head.

"You're absolutely right, Andrew. Thanks for bringing this to my attention," said Bronson after a brief pause. "Do you mind if I keep this?"

"Not at all. Do what you want with it... just, if you bring it up to Graham, don't mention I gave it to you, okay? I know he'll take it a lot worse if he knew I'm the one that found it..."

Bronson held up a hand to stop him. "No need to worry, son. I've got this under control."

Andrew took that as a sign that he was no longer needed, so he simply nodded, got up, and left the room without another word. Bronson set the article back down on the coffee table, sighed, and put the washcloth back on his forehead.

[hr]

Shea Allen walked alone down the dim corridors of the Candlewick, chills once again running up and down her spine. She had been having the chills ever since she laid eyes on this godforsaken island again, and she was desperate to do anything she could to feel at peace again.

She reached the large doors of the ballroom. After quickly checking her watch, she knocked on the doors. A faint voice from inside called, "Come in," and Shea pushed open one of the giant doors. The ballroom was large and extravagant, and admittedly slightly creepy now that the sun had gone down. The only light source filling the room was a circle of four candles set on a table in the middle of the massive dancefloor. Standing beside the table was Didi Phelps, a smile on her face as she saw Shea walk in.

"Hello there, Ms. Allen," she said politely. Shea didn't respond or return the smile, but instead folded her arms as if to keep herself warm. The chills still ran through her body.

"Is this going to take long?" Shea asked impatiently and somewhat rudely.

Didi's smile faded a bit and she hesitated. "It... it all depends on how well the spirits respond. I can assure you, though, Ms. Allen, this will be worth your while. I've done many seances before and they've all had positive results."

Shea took a deep breath and walked closer to the table with the candles. Didi, who stood on the other side, reached out her arms.

"Let's get right into it then. Grab my hands, and close your eyes," she said sweetly.

Shea followed the instructions, though she felt completely stupid doing it. She didn't believe in ghosts, she didn't believe in seances, she didn't believe in any of this nonsense... but she was running out of ideas on how to make these horrible thoughts and feelings go away.

"Spirits from the Harper's Island massacre... spirits of the Wellington family, of the Allen family, of all those who were senselessly murdered on this island years ago... if you hear our calls, if you hear our pleas... give us a response!" said Didi in a slow, deep voice.

Shea's eyes remained closed, but she still managed to roll them. If only her father could see her now, holding hands with a self-proclaimed "medium", trying to contact his spirit... he would be so ashamed and embarrassed. Several seconds went by, and suddenly, Shea was startled by a cold feeling centralized on her shoulder. More seconds passed, and that cold feeling materialized into what felt like a hand. Her heart began to race. Shea opened her eyes and looked to her shoulder; she could do nothing but scream when she saw the misty, opaque figure of Thomas Wellington standing by her side.

"...Daddy?" she gasped.

"Stay focused, Ms. Allen," came Didi's voice, but Shea's eyes remained glued on what appeared to be the ghost of her father. She blinked several times: surely this had to be a dream or a hallucination.

But before she knew it, another cold hand touched her, this time on her other shoulder. Standing on the other side of her was Trish Wellington, her sister.

"Oh my god..." she breathed, hardly able to formulate the words.

"Shea....."

The voices of both Thomas and Trish echoed inside of Shea's head.

"Shea..... Get out of here......."

The spirits of Thomas and Trish suddenly materialized in front of her so that she could see them both at once. And, within seconds, their faces began to contort in a horrific way: their mouths opened abnormally wide, their eyeballs suddenly disappeared, their heads morphed into what resembled skulls, and they both emitted horrible, painful screams that pierced Shea's brain.

Shea shut her eyes, and a scream escaped her own lips. She pulled her sweaty hands away from Didi's, an action that was so fast that the breeze extinguished all four candles on the table.

"Ms. Allen! What is it?!" Didi asked fearfully, but before she could get a response, Shea ran out of the room, screaming and covering her ears. The giant door of the ballroom slammed behind her and she began to run down the corridor. She was stopped suddenly by someone standing in her way. It was Rachael.

"Shea! Shea! Oh my god, what happened?!" she asked, grabbing Shea by the shoulders to calm her down.

"I need to go. I need to go home, right now," Shea sobbed.

Back in the ballroom, Didi held her hands to her head, completely perplexed and terrified at what had just happened. How could this have gone wrong? She had performed dozens of seances for people who had lost loved ones in tragedies, and every single one of her clients had left feeling satisfied, comforted, and totally at peace. Why did this one have different results? It made no sense...

Didi's deep thought process completely distracted her from everything else around her, so she didn't even hear the sound of the doors creaking open again, followed by the sound of the doors closing and locking. Footsteps quietly clicked on the shiny marble floor of the ballroom, slowly approaching the dumbfounded Didi.

By the time Didi finally noticed someone had entered the room, it was too late.

A sharpened spear was thrust deep into her throat; so deep, in fact, that the bloody spearhead emerged from the back of her neck, dripping blood down her back. Didi tried to scream, but the only noise that escaped her lips was a faint gagging sound.

She was dead within seconds, and her killer slowly lowered her limp body to the ground before pulling the spear out of her corpse.

[hr]

The younger guests decided to go out to the Cannery for a second night in a row, as the previous night had been such a huge success. The bridesmaids all sat a table enjoying their drinks, though Julie seemed a bit distracted by something.

"Guys, are you sure none of you have heard from Stacy? I've called her cell, like, twenty times today, and there's no answer. Caleb hasn't been answering either," she said to the other girls at the table.

Haley scoffed and took a sip of her drink. "Jules, don't worry too much. You know how Caleb and Stace are. They pull pranks left and right. For all we know, this could all be part of some sick prank of theirs."

"But I can't help but feel a little worried that..." began Julie, until she was cut off by Maria.

"Julie, chica, relax. I know people were killed on this island and all, but the two guys that did are the killing are dead. Nobody's been killed here since then. You think that just 'cause there's another wedding going on here that all of a sudden one of us will turn into some deranged maniac and kill everyone?"

The other bridesmaids laughed at this comment, though Julie could do nothing but show a faint hint of a grin. Maria reached out and placed her hand on Julie's arm.

"I want you to relax, okay? Enjoy yourself. It's your wedding week for God's sake! This is the best week of your life!" she said cheerily, trying to lift Julie's spirits. It seemed to have worked, as Julie looked at Maria and smiled widely this time. "There's a smile! That's my Jules!"

Amanda stood at the bar nearby, holding her drink and staring loathingly at the bridesmaid table. She then moved her gaze to the groomsman table, where Graham, Andrew, Mikey, and Ryan, who was joined by Dale, all sat and chatted. Amanda focused on Andrew, the man who, according to her roommate Maria, had the hots for her. And yet, he hadn't given her the slightest shred of attention. She scoffed and downed the rest of her drink, slamming it on the bar and asking Yulissa for another.

"Seriously, it was the craziest night of my life!" Graham was saying, just finishing a funny story, at which everyone except Andrew was laughing. Graham noticed his best man looking gloomy and immediately stopped laughing. "Yo, Andrew. What's up, dude?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I'm just not feeling so hot, that's it," he said after some hesitation. This information about Gail was eating him up inside, but he knew he couldn't tell Graham himself. As much as he hated the idea of Graham marrying into the Mathis family, he also wanted nothing less than to upset his best friend before his wedding to the woman he truly loved.

Towards the end of the night and as closing hour drew near, Yulissa put a slow song on the jukebox, which invited all couples to step onto the dancefloor and enjoy a romantic dance. Graham and Julie stood at the center, as Haley and Josh, Ryan and Dale, and even Maria and Mikey - who started to passionately make out in the middle of the dance - circled around them.

Amanda, meanwhile, still stood alone at the bar, continually eying Andrew. By now, she felt drunk enough to garner up enough courage to just ask him to dance and make a move herself, but by the time she had made this decision, Andrew had gotten up and left the bar.

[hr]

Hours passed and eventually all the wedding guests had made their way back to the Candlewick for a good night's sleep. Mikey had taken Maria back to his room, which he shared with Andrew, but since he wasn't in the room at the time, they shared a passionate moment together. Sure, Maria was seven years Mikey's senior, but this is what she had been longing for. She had been longing for a man in her life. And Mikey was certainly an attractive enough and nice enough man for her to be satisfied with.

Maria grabbed her cell phone, which she had set on the nightstand, to check the time. "Oh god, it's getting late. I need to go. I've got laundry to do."

"Tomorrow night? Same time, same place?" Mikey asked, smiling up at her, his shirt still off. She giggled and leaned in to kiss him before getting up, whispering goodnight to him, and leaving the room.

Still feeling drunk from earlier that night, Maria stumbled rather clumsily down the corridor to her bedroom, stubbing her toe on the way and shouting out an obscenity, certainly loud enough for all the guests to hear. She clasped a hand over her mouth as if that would reverse the noise she had just made. As quietly as possible, she entered her dark room where her roommate Amanda lay sleeping in her bed. Maria walked over to her desk, grabbed the iPod resting on top of it, put the headphones in her ears, and exited the room carrying her heavy laundry basket.

Maria made her way to the basement of the Candlewick, which was admittedly rather creepy, especially under the influence. But soon enough she reached the laundry room of the Candlewick, the walls lined with super-sized washers and dryers. She set her laundry basket down, bobbing her head to the rhythm of the song blasting on her iPod.

As she opened one of the power washers and began to empty her clothes into it, the door of the laundry room slowly opened behind her, completely unbeknownst to Maria.

Suddenly, Maria felt an excruciating pain in her skull as something was forcefully smashed over her head. A figure holding a baseball bat stood behind her as she collapsed to the floor, dazed and disoriented but still conscious. The intruder opened the door of one of the giant tumble dryers, picked up the light, 110-pound Maria, and stuffed her inside the dryer. She suddenly snapped back to reality and realized what was happening, but by that point it was too late. The door of the dryer had closed and the person outside had activated the switch to turn it on.

The interior of the dryer slowly began to spin, and Maria spun around with it. She could feel heat encasing her from all sides. As Maria began to spin around in the dryer faster and faster, the person standing outside simply stood there and watched the show taking place before them.

Maria banged on the circular glass pane of the dryer door, trying as hard as she could to get out, but the dryer continued to spin faster and grow hotter. Soon, Maria was being spun so forcefully inside the cramped interior of the dryer that her body began to contort and some of her bones began to snap. The pain was excruciating, and she screamed, desperately hoping someone would hear her, hoping someone would save her.

Faster and hotter the dryer got. Maria's bones cracked and her skin began to burn from the heat. She continued to scream in pain for a few more minutes, until finally her neck snapped, and she died instantly.

And although the damage was done and another victim had been added to the list, the mysterious killer continued to stand there and watched the pretty Latina's battered corpse spin and burn inside the dryer.


	4. Episode 3: Gag

**HARPER'S ISLAND 2**

**EPISODE THREE: "GAG"**

[hr]

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Bronson

Dale

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Haley

Jethro

Josh

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Mikey

Rachael

Rodolfo

Ryan

Shea

Vance

Yulissa

[hr]

Shea Allen sat alone in the large dining room of the Candlewick Inn. It was hardly dawn; the faint orange glow of the sun was just starting to barely peek over the horizon. Shea sat cuddled up on a chair, wrapped in a blanket, feeling colder than ever. She took a sip from her giant mug full of hot coffee, but it wasn't helping to warm her up at all.

Shea hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before; not after seeing the ghosts of her dead father and sister standing right before her eyes, begging for her to leave, then transforming into horrific monsters and screaming at her. It was something that would surely haunt her for the rest of her life. She had such high hopes of coming here to this wedding and finally achieving a sense of peace, calmness, and closure on the deaths of her friends and family members. And yet the events of the night before had made things so much worse.

After hours of replaying that awful seance in her head, Shea had come to the conclusion that she would take the advice of her departed family members - whether they were real or not - and she would hop on the first ferry to the mainland. She needed to leave the island. She hated to do it; the Mathis family had been so good to her, especially in the last ten years. If it hadn't been for them, the grieving process would have been so much more difficult for Shea. They were welcoming enough to take her and her daughter Madison under their wing, and they allowed them to stay in their luxurious house for a few months before Shea was able to find a new place to live. Shea was in their debt.

But she simply couldn't stay on this island any longer.

To Shea's surprise, Gail Mathis entered the dining room, tying up the sash on her silky red robe, as if she had just gotten out of bed. Shea set down her cup of coffee as Gail approached her.

"Gail, what are you doing up?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"Well I heard you pacing around the hallways all night. I figured you'd be down here," said Gail as she sat down next to Shea.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Gail. I didn't mean to wake you..."

"Don't worry about it, honey. What's wrong?" Gail asked, as sweetly as possible.

Shea hesitated: she had already given the entire play-by-play of the seance to Rachael the night before. She didn't think she had it in her to repeat it for a second time. "I've just... something's come up, and I really don't think I can stay here anymore."

Gail frowned, though at the same time looked rather insulted. "Why not?"

"It's... business issues back home," Shea lied. "I shouldn't have left the real estate company this long." Since Thomas Wellington's death, Shea had taken over the family business. And while it was a rather hectic and stressful job, Shea had left her very reliable and responsible assistant in charge of the company during her week-long vacation, so this certainly wasn't her biggest concern.

Gail examined Shea intensely; it was quite clear that she didn't believe Shea's excuse. Nonetheless, she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Well, Shea, I'm not going to stop you from leaving. I just want you to know that you're one of our guests of honor at this wedding. It was very brave of you to come back here in the first place, and I truly appreciate that our friendship was important enough to you for you to decide to come to this island." Gail's tone of voice changed suddenly. "But I think it's kind of senseless and, frankly, kind of insulting that you would go home now, after only two days."

Though Shea couldn't bear to look her friend in the eye, she could tell that Gail was staring daggers into her right now. Another shiver ran down Shea's spine; the images of her father and sister's spirits continued to flash in her mind. She wanted so badly to go home, to listen to Thomas and Trish, to return safely to Madison. But she also knew that she couldn't possibly live with herself if she went home now, betraying her friend's trust. Shea Allen may have been many things, but she was not a backstabber.

Shea heaved a heavy sigh. She felt no other choice but to stick it out.

"Okay, Gail. I'll stay." She finally looked at Gail, who was smiling widely at her.

"Wonderful. I'm so happy to hear that." Gail patted Shea on the hand, then stood up and left the room.

Shea, however, still didn't feel at ease. She may have decided to stay, but she was by no means going to forget what happened the night before. She needed someone for moral support, someone who went through what she went through, someone who also had to deal with loss, someone who could empathize with her situation. Shea whipped out her green cell phone, flicked it open, and dialed the number of the first name listed in her contact list.

Abby Mills.

[hr]

Julie Mathis was woken up by the sound of her purple cell phone vibrating on the nightstand next to her. She groggily grabbed it and snapped it open to find a text from Maria, one of her best friends from college and one of her bridesmaids. The text read, "Sorry babe, had to go home for family emergency. I'll be back as soon as I can!" A slight frown appeared on Julie's face; she had hoped Maria would be able to make it back to the island in time for the wedding.

Julie set her phone back on the nightstand and looked over at Graham, her fiance, who was snoring lightly next to her. She grinned at him; she felt so attracted to him. Physically, emotionally, personally, she connected with him on every level. And yet, why was she feeling more and more unsure about this wedding? Julie loved Graham, but there were so many underlying factors that were making her feel very uneasy about marrying him. For one, her family never seemed to fully approve of Graham. He was not a rich man, and Julie knew that her mother wanted nothing more than to see her daughters marry rich men and further expand their wealth.

Graham shuffled around slightly in bed, but continued to snore. Julie smiled again. He was so adorable when he slept. But Julie's stomach lurched again when the thoughts of her family returned to her head. She also thought about Graham's friends, and how standoffish they had been acting towards her ever since she arrived on the island. It was very off-putting to her. She wanted so much to enjoy this week, to have a romantic time with the man she loved, as well as a fun, exciting vacation with her friends and family.

But so far, this week was turning out to be nothing like she had planned.

[hr]

With the wedding rehearsal quickly approaching, the various wedding guests were all in their rooms preparing for the event. Gail Mathis stood in her large, single bedroom getting dressed. She was suddenly startled by a knock on her door. After clipping her pearl necklace around her neck to complete her extravagant ensemble, she glided over to the door and opened it to find her sister-in-law, the lovely country singer Laurie Northcott, and her niece, the equally lovely redheaded Andrea Northcott.

"Oh. Hello," said Gail in an obviously fake attempt at a polite voice, complete with a fake smile upon her face. There was some obvious bad blood between Gail and the rest of the Northcott family.

"Can the act, Gail," snipped Laurie. "We need to talk."

Gail hesitated, but then stepped aside to allow the two women into her room, closing the door behind them. Each of the three women took a seat.

"Listen, Gail. We know what you're up to," Laurie said in her Southern accent, an angry look etched on her face. "I don't know what would possess you to frame your own brother for a crime he obviously didn't commit..."

"Frame?" interrupted Gail, sounding offended. "I didn't frame anyone! Matthew forged my name on that check; I did not write it!"

"That's a load of bullshit, Aunt Gail, and you know it," hissed Andrea. "You're in debt, you wrote a check, you didn't have enough funds in your account, and it bounced. You didn't want to deal with the consequences so you blamed it all on my dad? What kind of witch are you?!"

Gail stuttered a bit, trying to find the right words to say, but instead she just sighed.

"You have absolutely no right to come into my room and accuse me of something like this." Gail glared at her sister-in-law and niece coldly, her voice dangerously soft. "I'd like you to both leave. Now." Neither of the women budged from their chairs. "NOW!"

Laurie jumped a bit at this sudden outburst. Finally, she stood up but did not take her eyes off Gail. "This isn't over, Gail. We'll get to the bottom of this, and my husband will get acquitted. And you'll take his place in that prison. Right where you belong." She threateningly pointed a finger at Gail as she said this, and without waiting for a response, she and Andrea exited the room.

Gail Mathis was left to sit alone with her thoughts for several minutes. Her hand quivered. They had both been right. Gail had done something illegal, she didn't want to get punished for it, and so she pinned the blame on her own brother, her own flesh and blood.

She hadn't truly thought about what she had done until just now, when she saw her brother Matthew's closest loved ones come to her to defend him. Gail had committed several crimes throughout her life, and yet she did them all with no remorse, even if other innocent people were punished as a result.

For the first time, Gail Mathis felt guilty.

[hr]

2:00 PM rolled around, and the wedding guests began to file into the quaint white church located in the middle of the island. This church had a lot of history behind it; it was here that Thomas Wellington was brutally murdered with a head spade. And it was for this reason that Shea Allen was the only wedding guest that chose not to attend, not after the horrible events of the day before.

Graham and Julie were the first of the Candlewick guests to arrive at the church, and found Vance and Yulissa White already waiting for them there. Yulissa, who had been sitting in the first pew, whirled around and smiled when she saw them enter.

"Hey!" she said cheerily, getting out of her seat and going to hug the future bride and groom.

"Where's Didi?" asked Julie, immediately noticing the absence of their wedding planner.

"Oh, Didi left a note saying that she had gotten suddenly ill and is choosing to isolate herself in her room at the Candlewick until she recovers," said Vance matter-of-factly. Julie, however, looked extremely uneasy, which Graham immediately noticed.

"What's wrong, babe?" he asked, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Nothing... I mean, we still haven't heard from Stacy or Caleb. Then Maria all of a sudden has to go home for an emergency, and now Didi's sick? It's all kind of a creepy coincidence."

"Girl, you worry too much," said Yulissa. "Just relax! It's your wedding rehearsal! You're getting married tomorrow!"

Julie managed to crack a smile on her face, though in the back of her mind, she was absolutely starting to dread this wedding.

The other wedding guests began to file into the church and took their positions. Vance walked everyone through the process, step-by-step, on how everything was to go about.

As Graham and Julie stood at the head of the church, joined by Andrew, the best man, Haley, the maid of honor, and the rest of the bridal party, Yulissa White sat in the front pew. Her heart was beating rather rapidly and viciously in her chest. She couldn't take her eyes off a certain man standing in front of her.

For as long as she could remember, Yulissa had been very fond of Graham Deeley. She was admittedly the person who had introduced him to Julie, but at the same time, it broke her heart to see him marrying someone other than her. It had always been Yulissa's childhood dream to grow up with Graham, date him, call him her boyfriend, and, someday, to call him her husband.

It tore her up inside. And yet, her feelings now were stronger than ever before.

Yulissa loved Graham.

[hr]

The wedding rehearsal went very smoothly, and by the end of it, everyone felt prepared for the next day. As the wedding guests began to disperse and make their way back to the Candlewick, a few of the guests stayed behind, including Julie, Yulissa, Haley, Josh, Luke, and Professor Jethro Walton. As Julie talked with Yulissa and Haley, Jethro quietly sneaked up behind her and suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. She let out a slight shriek and whirled around.

"Oh, hi Professor. You scared me," she gasped.

"Please. Call me Jethro," he responded in a rather monotone voice.

"Oh, okay... Jethro," she said, laughing uncomfortably.

A long silence followed as the three women simply stared at Jethro, who stood rigid and awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

"I'd just like to, um... say... how beautiful you look. And I'm sure you'll make a very stunning bride." He cleared his throat.

"Well... thank you, Prof... I mean, Jethro," stuttered Julie, looking even more uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Jethro took his hand out of his pockets and placed it on Julie's hip. He started to rub his hand up and down her body, but she quickly retaliated by slapping him across the face.

"Excuse me, Professor!" she said angrily, and now both Josh and Luke were paying attention to the scene. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm... I'm sorry... I just think... God, you are so beautiful," breathed Jethro, his eyes examining her body.

"Eww! Stop! Get the fuck out of here, you nasty pervert!" shouted Haley suddenly, stepping in between the perverted professor and her older sister.

Jethro frowned and began to walk away, though his eyes were still glued on Julie's physique. Without saying anything, Haley changed her position in front of her sister to block Jethro's line of vision. As he walked out of the church, hunched over and disappointed, Luke and Josh stood awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact. Josh fiddled with his thumbs while Luke focused his attention on his phone as he texted someone.

Once Jethro was out of the church and out of sight, Luke snapped his phone shut and looked over at the girls. "Wow. What a creepy old man."

[hr]

Franklin and Rachael Bingham sat in their room, in complete silence. Rachael sat on the bed reading a book, while Franklin sat at the desk, doing some paperwork. It was a typical scene for the couple. Though they had been married 20 years, the spark had most certainly died between them. Rachael had often felt trapped in her own family; she would divorce her husband, but she was afraid it would tear her family apart. As blatantly dysfunctional as they were as a group of four, Rachael still passionately cared for her husband and two kids.

Though her eyes skimmed over the words in her book, Rachael had several other things on her brain. Her mind was swimming with thoughts; of her husband, of her kids, of this wedding, of her brother. Despite her very sweet, loving, polite exterior, Rachael truly did not like the fact that her brother was marrying a Mathis. Rachael never cared much for Julie, and certainly didn't care for Gail.

Rachael's mind returned to her family. She peered over her book and over her eyeglasses at her husband. She loved Franklin, she always had. But he had been incredibly abusive towards her, especially in recent years, and it had left Rachael emotionally disheveled and broken. And although she often went to counseling with her psychiatrist, she had very few other people to turn to. She had very few friends in Chicago, where the Binghams had resided for the last 15 years. Her father had some mental difficulties of his own. And her brother, Graham, had lived too far away for her to be able to easily turn to him.

A sudden knock came at the door, and Bri Bingham entered the room.

"Hi honey," Rachael said sweetly, setting her book on her lap.

Bri did not smile back. She stood at the doorway with her arms folded across her chest.

"Mom, I think we need to leave," she said bluntly.

Rachael gave her daughter a puzzled look as Franklin, for the first time, turned his attention away from his paperwork and looked over his shoulder at his daughter. "What do you mean? Why?" asked Rachael.

"There's some weird shit going on here," she said. "I can feel it. Really weird shit. I don't think it's safe here. There's ghosts in this hotel and they're not happy we're here."

Franklin suddenly got out of his chair and approached his daughter. "Listen, Bri. Enough of this cock-and-bull ghost stuff. I don't want you tampering around with this witchcraft thing anymore, you got that?"

Bri glared at her father angrily. "I can do what I want, Franklin."

In response to this, he aggressively grabbed his daughter's skinny arm with his massive hand, and she tried to break free.

"Frank, stop!" shouted Rachael, and her husband obeyed. "Bri, your father's right, though. This Wicca nonsense of yours is really unsettling to me. There are no ghosts..."

"There are, Mom! Why don't you believe me? You believed Shea when she told you she saw ghosts!" Bri shouted angrily. "God, you both are such shitty parents! I'm going to Luke and tell him, he's the only one that'll actually listen to what I have to say!"

Without waiting for a response from her parents, Bri stormed out of the room and slammed the door. Franklin crossed his arms and shot a look at Rachael.

"She gets that attitude from your side," he said, pointing a finger at his wife, before sitting back down at his desk and returning to his paperwork, once again leaving the Bingham's bedroom in total silence. Rachael sighed and shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts of what had just happened. She picked her book back up and immersed herself into the world and the characters she was reading about.

She had always loved murder mysteries.

[hr]

Abby Mills sat alone at the stern of the small fishing boat to Harper's Island. Her heart raced faster and faster as she approached the island; it had been ten years since she had stepped foot on that godforsaken strip of land. It was where her mother was killed and strung up in a tree. It was where her father was yanked out of a window and hung. It was where John Wakefield, the man responsible for her parents' deaths, ran rampant and killed dozens of her friends. It was where her best friend, Henry Dunn, revealed himself to be a killer as well, held Abby hostage, and admitted his obsession with her. So it was no surprise that she was feeling a bit uneasy about going back.

But after receiving that phone call from Shea Allen, whom she knew was on the island for another wedding, she felt obliged to face her fears, build up some courage, and go to the island. Since surviving the tragic mess on Harper's Island, Abby and Shea had grown quite close. Abby could sense that Shea was feeling troubled and scared, and Abby wanted nothing more than to help her friend.

Still, it didn't make things any easier. She constantly reminded herself that nothing was going to happen; John Wakefield was finally dead, as was the psychotic Henry Dunn. She had killed him herself. She knew that the killings were over. And yet, she still couldn't shake the feeling that going back to the island would be a huge mistake...

The boat slowly pulled up to the marina, which had been rebuilt since the explosion that occurred ten years ago, and the captain docked it. The captain was none other than Jimmy Mance, Abby's fiance and the fourth survivor of the Harper's Island massacre. Abby had requested him to take her there, but would not allow him to go with her, as she felt she needed to do this on her own and she didn't want to hold Jimmy back from his work as a fisherman.

Jimmy walked over to Abby, standing over her as she remained seated on the boat, hugging herself.

"You sure you're okay?" Jimmy asked, sounding concerned.

Abby looked up at him, smiled slightly, and nodded, though it was quite clear she was feeling apprehensive.

"You don't want me to come with you?" said Jimmy.

"No, no," Abby said quickly, shaking her head. "I'll be fine. You get back to work. Thanks for taking me here."

Abby finally stood, kissed her fiance goodbye, and disembarked. Jimmy remained in the marina for a while as he watched his fiance walk off. He, too, had convinced himself that the murders were over on this island. After all, it had been repopulated since the massacre, and not a single death had occurred in the ten years since the event. But, just like Abby, he had a sinking feeling that something would go wrong. Praying his intuition was wrong, he released his boat from the dock and slowly pulled away, fading into the distance.

As Abby traversed the island, memories of what happened ten years ago rushed through her mind. She made a few pit stops on her way to the Candlewick, her last one being the Tree of Woe, the giant tree from which her mother was strung by John Wakefield 17 years ago. That memory still was extremely vivid in her mind, and it was where all the horror involving John Wakefield began.

A faint rustling sound came from behind Abby, and, startled, she whirled around, but saw no one. Her heart began to beat faster and harder than ever. She sensed something was wrong.

And suddenly, before she could even comprehend what happened, a thick rope was placed around her neck and pulled incredibly tightly, making it difficult for her to breathe. She desperately gasped for air and tried to fight back against her attacker, but she had been greatly weakened by the fright and the shock of what was happening. The rope was pulled tighter around her neck, choking her, until she could no longer breathe at all. Tears formed in her eyes, she struggled to break free, but the rope continued to get tighter. Her vision began to fade, the sounds around her became fainter, and soon, everything went black.

Abby Mills was dead.

[hr]

Haley, Josh, Andrew, Mikey, Ryan, Dale, and Julie were all gathered in the ballroom, and most of them sat at the bar, helping themselves to some drinks.

"Hey, have any of you guys seen Maria around?" asked Mikey as he sipped his scotch.

"She sent me a text earlier; apparently she had to go home for some family emergency," said Julie.

"Wow, really? I'm surprised she didn't let me know," said Mikey, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Why's that? You two have a date or something?" asked Haley jokingly, nudging Mikey in the arm.

"Well... yeah, actually," he said, blushing a bit.

Haley started laughing, and Ryan playfully hit her in the arm. "Haley! Don't laugh; I think it's cute. You guys make a hot couple," he said to Mikey, who continued to blush and sip his drink.

As they all continued to joke around, something in the distance caught Andrew's eye. It was a bright red piece of cloth, and in the dimness of the ballroom, it stood out quite a bit against its dark surroundings. He got up and walked over to the cloth to get a closer look.

"Andrew, what're you doing?" asked Mikey, trying to distract everyone from the topic of the fling between him and Maria.

Andrew didn't respond; he picked up the piece of cloth, which was a smooth fabric that felt like it came from a shirt. And on the piece of fabric was, clear as day, a dark red stain that looked very much like blood. He whirled around to face the other guests and held the cloth up to show them.

"Guys, what the hell is this? It's got blood on it," he said, his voice quivering a bit.

Julie jumped out of her chair and walked briskly over to Andrew, taking the cloth and looking closely at it. "Oh my god," she whispered. "This... I think this came from Didi's shirt."

"How do you know?" asked Andrew.

"The design on this cloth... it was the same design on the shirt she was wearing yesterday." Julie's heart was pounding and she was starting to panic. "Oh my god. We have to go to her room. Right now."

Julie practically ran out of the ballroom and was followed by the six other guests. Once they reached Didi's bedroom door, Julie pounded on it, calling Didi's name. She then grabbed the doorknob and turned, and to her surprise, the door swung right open. The room was empty, aside from a large piece of paper plastered on the wall with four words written on it in thick, black ink.

"IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN."

[hr]

Jethro Walton had spent the entire day alone after the events that took place after the wedding rehearsal. He had felt embarrassed, ashamed, yet at the same time, his feelings for Julie Mathis hadn't diminished. He had been happy to at least touch her, feel her, and let his true feelings known, in spite of the negative results it had.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying that event in his mind repeatedly. He thought of Julie, imagined an alternative ending to what had happened, one where she had given in to his advances, one where she began to undress as he felt her. As he fantasized this in his mind, he started to become aroused.

Jethro tried to rid these thoughts from his mind; this was a much younger woman, one that was soon to be married. He needed to stop thinking these things. And yet he couldn't help it. He had wanted Julie Mathis to be his since the moment he laid eyes on her.

Deciding that he needed to distract himself from these thoughts, Jethro got up, went to his bathroom, and began to prepare for bed. He brushed his teeth, thoughts of Julie still occasionally popping into his mind. After several minutes of brushing his teeth, still finding himself distracted by his thoughts, he spit the toothpaste into the sink and grabbed the glass of water that he had left out during the day.

Soon after gulping down the full glass of water, Jethro's throat started to tickle quite a bit, and then in a matter of seconds, it began to burn. He clutched his throat, clearing it several times, but it only made things worse. He began to cough violently, his throat hurting him more and more by the second. Before he knew it, he was starting to cough up blood, which splattered all over his bathroom mirror and walls. He choked and gagged, continuing to clutch his throat as he coughed up more blood.

Suddenly, he collapsed onto the marble bathroom floor, convulsing and now vomiting up blood. But, because Jethro was laying on his back, the mixture of blood and stomach acid went pouring back down his throat, causing him to choke even more profusely. The perverted professor continued to writhe on the floor and make gagging noises until, soon enough, he lay motionless in a pool of his own blood and vomit.

[hr]

Gail Mathis needed something to take her mind off what had happened earlier in the day. That strange feeling of guilt continued to plague her ever since her encounter with Laurie and Andrea Northcott.

And, of course, what better way to distract oneself than to engage in sexual activities?

The king-sized bed in Gail's room shook and squeaked rather violently as she and Dr. Rodolfo DiLorenzo made passionate love to one another. Gail moaned and pounded on the wall rather loudly; it would have been difficult for anyone nearby not to hear them.

After several minutes of love-making, Gail suddenly pushed Rodolfo away from her. "Wait! Stop!" she shouted, breathing heavily, perspiration soaking her face.

"What? What is it?" panted the doctor.

"We need to stop this! You're a married man!" Gail screeched.

"So what?! It hasn't stopped us before," said Rodolfo, and he leaned in to continue, but Gail once again pushed him away.

"No. No, we need to stop. I'd like you to leave now, please. Get out," she said forcefully, inching away from him.

"Are... are you serious, babe?" asked Rodolfo.

"Don't call me babe! And yes, I'm serious! Get out!"

Not another word was spoken between the two: perplexed and bewildered, Rodolfo got out of bed, grabbed his clothes, put them on, and left the room. He ran his hand through his thick head of hair, trying to dry the sweat, and he made his way back to his room, the thought of what had just happened still confusing him to no end.

Gail sat alone in her room, clutching the sheets close to her body, as if to hide her guilt from an invisible person watching her and examining her. The thought of what Laurie had said to her kept coming back, and she kept feeling guilty. And now, the thought of having sex with a married man, the thought of his family whom he was betraying... she felt guilty about that as well.

Guilt was something Gail Mathis had never felt before. But now, it seemed to be consuming her.

[hr]

Rodolfo had decided not to return to his room just yet; he needed some time to think. He had gone outside to the Candlewick's patio, the cool breeze hitting his face, drying up his sweat that still lingered on his forehead and cheeks. He had been so attracted to Gail Mathis, and he thought she felt the same way. Rodolfo had been having an affair with the rich woman for two years now, and not once had she ever turned him away.

Perhaps it was the idea of having sex during her daughter's wedding week? But Rodolfo knew Gail better than that; she normally wouldn't care about something as trivial as that.

He went back inside, feeling even more confused than he had before. He slowly trudged back upstairs to the hallway and went to his bedroom door, which had a piece of paper taped on it. Scrawled in sloppy writing were the words, "Meet me downstairs in the lounge. We need to talk. ---Gail"

Rodolfo ripped the sheet off the door, crumpled it up, and practically raced downstairs to the Candlewick lounge. At this point he wanted nothing more than to talk with Gail, to ask her what was wrong, to find out what was up.

After reaching the first floor, Rodolfo could make out faint music playing, which he assumed must have been coming from the lounge where Gail was waiting for him. As he approached the lounge and the music grew louder, he could finally make out the words of the song:

"You're cheating heart

Will make you weak

You'll cry and cry

And try to sleep

But sleep won't come

The whole night through

Your cheating heart

Will tell on you"

Rodolfo reached the doorway to the lounge, which was completely dark aside from the faint light coming from the burning fireplace. A single large chair was placed in front of the fireplace, though Rodolfo could not tell if anyone was even sitting in it or not. The music continued to play from an old-fashioned record player set on a nearby table.

"Gail?" asked Rodolfo, but there came no response. He approached the chair and noticed someone sitting in it, though, from the back, he did not recognize the person as Gail. "Gail?" he asked again, slowly walking closer to the chair.

He soon stood directly next to the chair, and this time, he knew that the person sitting there was not Gail. Before he could say anything more, the person in the chair quickly got up, whirled around, and thrust a dagger directly into Rodolfo's heart. He gasped and sputtered, his eyes open wide, unable to comprehend what had just happened; he could only focus on the pain. The music continued to play as the knife remained in Rodolfo's chest; the room around him quickly began to fade, and the last words he heard before his death came from the record player.

"Your cheating heart

Will tell on you"

Once the killer knew Rodolfo's time was up, they dragged the body closer to the fireplace, then tossed him inside.

And as the song came to an end, the killer stood there with their arms folded across their chest, watching the body of the cheating doctor Rodolfo DiLorenzo burn to a crisp in front of their eyes.


	5. Episode 4: Thud

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE FOUR: "THUD"

* * *

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Bronson

Dale

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Haley

Josh

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Mikey

Rachael

Ryan

Shea

Vance

Yulissa

* * *

Bronson Deeley woke up that morning with a splitting headache, which wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him, but last night was particularly stressful for him. Today was the day his son was supposed to marry Julie Mathis, the daughter of the wicked Gail Mathis. Bronson had just learned about one of Gail's previous high crimes in which she stole over a million dollars from her employers. Of course, Julie herself hadn't committed any crimes that he knew of, but this didn't make Bronson feel any less concerned about his son, Graham, marrying into such a suspicious family.

He reached over to the bucket filled with hot water and grabbed a washcloth, wringing it out and once again placing it on his forehead. It helped eased his stress, but today was worse than ever. There was only a few hours left until his son would be a married man. There wasn't much time.

Bronson needed to let his son know the truth.

* * *

Bronson wasn't the only one who had had a stressful night.

Gail Mathis lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, thoughts of the previous night continuously flooding through her mind. She had been so attracted to Dr. Rodolfo DiLorenzo, and had been having an affair with him for over two years. But last night, she had turned him away, for the first time.

As she thought of Rodolfo, she also kept thinking of her sister-in-law Laurie Northcott, whom, admittedly, she loathed. But what Laurie had said to her the day before had really struck a nerve in Gail. She had framed her brother; he was in jail solely because of her. And she actually felt remorseful about it.

Remorse was certainly not a common feeling for Gail Mathis to have. In her 58 years of living, she had never once felt guilty about anything. And she had long since lost count of the number of terrible things she had done in her life.

Before she knew it, Gail became overwhelmed with emotion. She began to cry. And then she began to sob. Tears poured from her eyes, trickling down her wrinkly cheeks like little rivers, and stained her pillowcase. She lay there on her bed for a good ten minutes, crying uncontrollably. The weight of all the bad things she had done throughout her life had suddenly come crashing down on her.

* * *

Today was the big day. Today was the day Julie Mathis would finally marry Graham Deeley.

But it had been a sleepless night for her as well. Images of Didi Phelps' bedroom kept flashing through her mind. And that horrible note.

"IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN."

Who could have written that? And what did it mean? Julie had been having terrible thoughts all week about this wedding going wrong. And between the bloody cloth, the sudden disappearances of several wedding guests, and that awful note, Julie could only suspect the worst.

But she kept reminding herself, over and over again... the killings were in the past. Not a single violent crime had been committed on Harper's Island since Henry Dunn and John Wakefield were killed. Why, then, would the arrival of her and her wedding party spark more killings? It just didn't make sense. She may have come from a dysfunctional family, but she knew none of them were killers. And she trusted Graham's friends and family enough to know they wouldn't do anything to hurt him or his loved ones.

So what, then, did that note mean? Was it someone just pulling some kind of sick prank? She knew Stacy Stone and her boyfriend, Caleb, well enough to know that they were capable of pulling a stunt like this. If that was the case, then Julie certainly would get her revenge on them.

As she sat on her bed, deep in thought, she was startled by the bathroom door opening. She whirled around to see Graham standing in the doorway, wrapped in a towel. Julie let out a high-pitched shriek.

"Oh my God! Close the door! You're not supposed to see me! It's our wedding day!" she yelped, leaping up from the bed.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" he replied, slamming the door as Julie sprinted out of the bedroom, even though it was already too late; Graham had already laid eyes on his future bride.

Julie knew it was bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other on their wedding day. She wasn't a superstitious woman... but she knew that couldn't be a good sign for what was to come.

* * *

Andrew McCaffrey sat in silence in his hotel room, while his younger brother, Mikey McCaffrey, stood in the bathroom brushing his teeth, preparing for the day.

"Yo, Mikey," Andrew called suddenly, the first words he had spoken in quite a while.

"What's up, bro?" replied Mikey in a muffled voice, his mouth full of toothpaste.

"C'mere when you're done." A few seconds passed, and Mikey entered the bedroom. "I've been thinking more about what we saw yesterday..."

"You mean that note?" said Mikey.

Andrew nodded. "I mean, you know as well as I do, this island has been totally crime-free for the last ten years. But now all of a sudden a convicted criminal, Gail Mathis, comes here and all this weird shit starts happening. People disappearing, that bloody cloth..."

"You think Gail Mathis is behind all that?"

Andrew sighed and shrugged. "I don't want to think so. But I can't think of any other explanation."

There was a long silence between the two brothers, until finally Mikey broke it. "You don't think she's a murderer... do you?"

"Oh God, don't even say that. If murders started happening on this island for a third time... then damn, this place just might as well be blown up to bits."

The McCaffrey family had lived on the island during both Harper's Island massacres, and had temporarily relocated in both cases before the island was considered safe again. It had taken an emotional toll on the McCaffrey brothers; not only due to the fact that people they had known had been brutally murdered, but also because their own home, the island on which they had grown up, had twice been the scene of several murders.

Mikey had forgotten about it after the second massacre was over. John Wakefield had been the mastermind behind both bloodbaths, and now he was dead, as were all of his known relatives. As far as Mikey was concerned, the island was murder-free.

Andrew, however, didn't feel quite as optimistic. Suddenly he began having the same feelings Julie Mathis had been having all week long.

He felt a horrible, sinking feeling that terrible things were once again about to plague the island.

* * *

"Luke, I need to talk to you about something." Bri Bingham sat cross-legged on her bed as her brother Luke got himself dressed.

"What is it, Bri?" he asked, in an almost annoyed tone.

Bri looked around, almost as if someone was hiding in the room, listening to them. "Are Mom and Dad around?"

"Mom went out for a walk, Dad's in his room doing paperwork. What's up?"

Bri sighed heavily. "I've been getting these weird feelings about this place. Like bad things are gonna happen here. To us."

Luke shot his sister an unconvinced expression. "What the fuck are you talking about? You're a psychic now?"

"Well, some of the magick of the Wicca religion does let me kind of contact the spirits here on the island..."

Luke belted out a laugh. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, sis. You're into magic and ghosts now?! God, I thought you would've outgrown that shit by now...."

Bri groaned. "God, Luke, I thought you of all people would at least understand me. I tried telling this to Mom and Dad but they had the same reaction."

"Look, Bri. You know I'm your big brother and you can talk to me about anything... as long as it makes sense. Magic? Ghosts? Sorry, sis, but I don't believe in any of that bullshit, so if you wanna talk to me about it you'd just be wasting your time."

Bri angrily stood up. "Ugh. You can be such an asshole sometimes." And with that, Bri stormed out of the room, and Luke continued to chuckle.

* * *

Bri Bingham needed to talk to someone, and she felt as though she had no other choice but to talk to the one woman who had gone through all this before. The woman who had seen the spirits of the island herself, someone who would actually believe what Bri had to say.

Shea Allen heard a knock on her door. She opened it to find the young Bri Bingham standing there; it was one of the last people Shea had been expecting to see.

"Oh. Hi Bri. I thought you were Abby," breathed Shea.

"Who's Abby?" asked Bri as she welcomed herself into the room and sat down on Shea's bed.

"Just an old friend of mine. She said she would be coming here, as moral support, I guess you could say." Shea tried her best to smile.

Bri's expression suddenly became very serious. "Moral support, you mean about the ghosts you saw the other day?" A look of fear appeared on Shea's face, but she didn't answer. Bri continued. "I just want you to know, Ms. Allen... you're not the only one that knows there are spirits here. I can feel them. I might not know any of them... but I can definitely feel them. They're upset. They don't want us here. They know something bad's going to happen."

Shea's expression suddenly morphed from fear to complete horror. "Wh...what did you say?"

Bri remained stoic. "Don't freak out. There's still time. The wedding's today... but I think afterwards, it would be smart for all of us to get off this island. Like, as fast as possible."

"What are you saying, Bri? Are you saying... are you saying that there's a killer out there?"

Bri shrugged. "I don't know exactly. It might not be as serious as that. All I know is that the spirits aren't happy we're here. Bad things are gonna happen. Whether or not that means people are gonna die... I have no clue. But I don't think it's smart for us to risk it. We need to get outta here, Shea."

* * *

Yulissa White had spent hours that morning decorating the church, preparing it for the big wedding coming up. And all the while, she felt a huge hole in her stomach.

Yulissa had known Julie Mathis since college, and the two had become close friends. Yulissa had also grown up with Graham, become best friends with him, even developed a deep affection for him. And then came that fateful day when Yulissa had invited Julie to attend a get-together with Graham; little had she known then that Julie and Graham would become close, fall in love, and become engaged to be married. It was Yulissa's worst nightmare. She did her best to hide her feelings by bragging about introducing Julie and Graham and being the one responsible for this wedding happening, but deep down, she truly wished it hadn't happened.

Distracted by her thoughts and the decorating, Yulissa didn't even notice the large group of people that had just entered the church.

"Yulissa?" came a voice, startling Yulissa and causing her to nearly fall off the ladder from which she was hanging wreaths.

Yulissa looked over her shoulder to see Amanda Mathis, Haley Mathis, Josh Weeks, Ryan MacPherson, and Dale Mooney standing in the aisle of the church. She had nearly forgotten that yesterday she had promised the five of them that she would give a brief sightseeing tour of Harper's Island before the wedding took place. She figured it would be a good idea to ease everyone's nerves about the wedding, as well as distract her own mind from her feelings for Graham.

"Oh my God! Sorry guys! I totally forgot. I'll be with you in a second; I'm almost done." Yulissa finished placing the wreath on the wall, then steadily descended the ladder and put it back into the closet where it belonged. "So, how's it look?" She looked around the church, marveling at her accomplishments.

"It looks amazing, Yulie," said Haley, sounding impressed. "This is gonna be such a beautiful wedding."

After making a few last minute adjustments to finalize the decorations of the church, Yulissa led the group out of the church and began showing them around the island. She showed them the Harper's Globe office, the doctor's office, the police station, all the major landmarks of Harper's Island. She would mention any connections that the places had to John Wakefield or the killings of years past; everytime she brought this up, Ryan's interest peaked quite a bit and he would suddenly start asking lots of questions.

Near the end of the tour, the group walked along a long dirt path surrounded by trees, and an eerie change in the weather occurred; a cool breeze picked up.

"And in there is what we call the 'Tree of Woe'; it's where the original seven victims of John Wakefield were strung up after he killed them. Pretty terrible stuff," said Yulissa, pointing in an arbitrary direction.

"Can we see it?" asked Ryan after a pause.

"Nah, it's probably not a good idea to go there," retorted Yulissa rather quickly. "Lots of bad history. Nobody really ever goes see that tree anymore. It should probably be cut down, if you ask me."

Ryan glanced over at Dale; both seemed rather suspicious of Yulissa's objection to see the tree, but they continued on nonetheless.

* * *

Bronson Deeley paced back and forth through the corridor of the Candlewick, the article about Gail Mathis' embezzlement clutched in his hand. His heart pounded against his chest; he needed to tell his son. He wasn't sure why, but something inside him kept eating away at him, telling him that this needed to be done before his son finalized his wedding vows and officially became a part of the Mathis family.

Bronson finally stopped in front of his son's bedroom door. He inhaled deeply, his heart still pounding, and knocked gently on the door. Seconds later, Graham opened the door and smiled when he saw his father.

"Hey Dad. What's up?"

Bronson peered into the room, looking around. "Is Julie in there?"

"Nah, she's into that superstition of not seeing the groom. C'mon in." Graham stepped aside, letting his father enter, and shut the door.

"Son, there's something I need to talk to you about," Bronson said, sighing heavily.

Graham's happy expression suddenly faded from his face. "Is something wrong, Dad?" But Graham didn't need a response to know the answer to that question; it was quite clear that something was bothering his father. Graham's eyes went to the piece of paper sitting in Bronson's hand. "What's that?"

Bronson sighed once again as he, too, looked down at the paper he was holding. "I guess you're better off just reading this first, before I say anything." He handed his son the article, and the two men stood in silence for the next several seconds as Graham read the words on the paper. Bronson watched as Graham's expression gradually changed from confusion to annoyance.

Finally, Graham lowered the paper and looked up at his dad, his forehead scrunched in an irritated expression. "Why... why exactly did you feel the need to show me this?"

"I would have shown you earlier, but I just recently found this myself..." said Bronson.

"That's not what I'm asking. Why did you need to show me this, at all?" Graham was starting to raise his voice.

"Don't take this the wrong way, son... but I just wanted to know the kind of family you were marrying into..."

In an unexpected fit of anger, Graham crumpled up the paper in the his hands and violently threw it at the wall. "Well, just for the record, Dad, I'm marrying Julie Mathis... not her mother! I don't give a damn what kind of stuff Gail's done God knows how many years ago, but that's for her to deal with! I've known Julie for years, Dad, and if you're trying to insinuate that she'll pull a stupid stunt like this..."

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying at all..." Bronson stuttered, trying to get a word in edgewise, but his son kept angrily interrupting.

"No, Dad, that's exactly what you're implying! Why else would you feel the need to, on my wedding day, show me an article about some stupid crime Gail Mathis committed twenty-plus years ago? No other explanation would make sense, Dad."

Bronson attempted to reply, but Graham held up a hand, preventing him from speaking.

"Just go, Dad. Please leave. I'll see you later at the wedding... that is, if you still want to see your son marry the daughter of a criminal." Graham forcefully pointed at the door. Bronson wiped his sweaty brow and sighed again; it was clear that his son would hear no more from him. He instantly regretted listening to his instincts; he wished he could turn back the clock and not shown his son that article.

Bronson slowly walked to the door, hoping that for each extra second he stayed in the room, Graham would start to reconsider and apologize to his father. But it never happened. Bronson opened the door and exited the room, and Graham immediately slammed it behind him.

The sound of the door slam cut through Bronson's heart like a knife.

* * *

Andrew and Mikey McCaffrey began preparing for the big wedding, which was now only a few hours away. As Andrew put on his tux, Mikey noticed a large ketchup-like stain on his white collared shirt.

"Oh shit! Where'd this huge stain come from?!" said Mikey.

Andrew chuckled as he buttoned up his own shirt, which was perfectly clean. "Spilled something on it one of those nights you got drunk at the Cannery and came stumbling back here?"

"Damn. You're probably right." Mikey glanced at his watch. "Well, I guess I got a few minutes to wash this thing, huh?"

As Andrew continued to dress him, Mikey snatched the white shirt and hurriedly walked through the hallway and down the stairs to the dark, dim basement. He walked through the dank hallways until he reached the door labeled "Laundry". He could hear faint music playing from inside; confused, he knocked on the door and put his ear up against it.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" he asked. When there was no response, Mikey opened the door and entered the brightly lit laundry room. He immediately looked for the source of the music and noticed a small pink iPod resting on one of the tables, attached to a small speaker, from which the music was emanating.

And then suddenly, another thing in the room caught his eye. Resting on top of one of the large, heavy-duty dryers was a figure that almost resembled a body. Mikey looked both bewildered and disgusted, but nonetheless he approached the figure. It definitely looked like a body, but it was oddly contorted; the arms and legs were twisted in unnatural ways, and even the back was severely arched. When Mikey reached the dryer on which the figure rested, he turned the body over and immediately recognized the face of Maria Dominguez, with whom he had hooked up just a couple of nights ago.

She was dead.

Mikey felt as though he were punched in the stomach and felt as though he was about to vomit. Maria's face had been badly beaten and bruised; she was almost unrecognizable. And suddenly he felt a feeling of absolute horror; how could this have happened? Her body was so misshapen; someone had to have done this to her.

Before Mikey even had enough time to process the sight before him, an incredible, splitting pain went shooting through his back. A sharp ax had been bludgeoned into his spine by someone. He didn't even have time to turn around to see the face of the killer. Within a fraction of a second, the intense pain went straight to his brain; he felt as if his head were about to explode. Instead, his vision went blurry, the sound of the music began to fade out, and within just a few seconds, it all went black.

As Mikey collapsed to the floor, the killer pulled the bloody ax out of their victim. The killer then lifted Mikey's surprisingly light body and placed it on top of the same dryer, right next to Maria. The two of them had had such chemistry when they were alive; the killer felt it was only fair for them to be together in death.

The killer smirked at the sight of the two bodies laying on top of the dryer, looking as if they were almost cuddling each other in death. With the ax, the killer then smashed apart the iPod, which, ironically enough, was playing a song called "Join Me In Death". So poetic that Maria would happen to have that song on her iPod. The killer then walked to the laundry room door, locked it from the inside, left the room, closed the door, and sliced the doorknob off with the ax, making it impossible for anyone else to get inside.

Mikey and Maria would be in there alone. Together forever.

* * *

Bronson couldn't think straight; his mind wasn't even focused on his son's wedding that was rapidly approaching. All he could think about was his confrontation with Graham and how upset he had made his son. And a sudden rage and hatred towards Gail Mathis began to surge through his body.

After several minutes of being alone in his room, Bronson finally made his way to Gail's room and knocked on her door.

"Oh! Hello, Bronson. Come on in, please," she said in her fake polite voice.

Bronson did not return her smile; instead, he stormed into the room, his wrinkly face red with anger.

"I just want you to know, Gail Mathis, that I know about your criminal past," he sputtered, his voice grainy and shaky. "And if you even dare to try and corrupt my only son, so help me God...." He began to threateningly point at Gail.

"Bronson, please..." said Gail as calmly as possible. "I don't know exactly what you're talking about..."

"You damn well know what I'm talking about, you cold-hearted bitch! I know exactly what you did; granted, it may have been several years ago... but stealing over a million dollars?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Oh, that... Listen, Bronson. Please calm down. I want you to rest assured that my mistakes have not carried over to my daughter. She and I both love your son very much and I will certainly not try to 'corrupt' him...."

"Don't you tell me anything about loving my son! You don't love him. You don't give a shit about him. You're a selfish, greedy bitch. You don't love anyone; the only thing you love is your money. And you would do just about anything to get more of it."

Bronson's tone had become threateningly calm and quiet; Gail looked at him with real fear in her eyes.

"Bronson... please. I don't know what more you want me to say. Your son and my daughter are about to get married. There is nothing we can do to stop that..."

"There's nothing we can do to stop it. But there's plenty I can do to make sure you never see my son as long as he's married to your daughter. Do you understand me?"

Gail hesitated, but then nodded, feeling it was pointless to try and argue with Bronson. The elderly man suddenly cleared his throat, adjusted his collar, and without another word, he left the room. Gail closed the door behind him, and suddenly a tear formed in her eye and trickled down her cheek. The guilt of all of her past actions were suddenly coming crashing down on her. It was simply too much for Gail Mathis to handle.

* * *

Amanda Mathis had agreed to let her sister, Haley Mathis, and Andrea Northcott to get dressed in her bedroom, with Laurie Northcott there to assist them. Amanda still felt an insane amount of jealousy for the two women for being selected as bridesmaids, especially now; after the sudden disappearance of Stacy Stone and Maria Dominguez, two bridesmaids, Amanda's own sister Julie had still not asked her to take either of the places in the wedding. Amanda felt rather insulted... but she could still dream of having her spot in Julie's wedding party as she stared longingly at Haley and Andrea putting on their beautiful green dresses in front of her.

"It's so weird, isn't it? That me and you are gonna be the only bridesmaids?" Haley asked Andrea as they strapped on their dresses. Amanda sighed; it was like Haley was pouring salt into her wounds.

Andrea shot Haley a look, Amanda's bitterness coming to mind, but the damage had already been done.

"Oh... sorry Mandy. Stacy and Maria were both so short anyway; you wouldn't have fit into their dresses," said Haley, as if that would make Amanda feel any better.

"No, no... it's okay," replied Amanda in a fakely positive tone.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think Andrew's really into you," said Andrea with a wink. "He's a cutie. You should go for that."

"I totally agree, Amanda," Laurie chimed in, though she could barely open her mouth as she held three pins between her lips, helping Andrea with her dress. "You know what they say about weddings. Love and sex is always in the air, especially at the receptions."

"Eww, Mom! I don't need to hear you talking about sex!" said Andrea, to which Haley laughed.

Amanda was deep in thought, thinking of Andrew. She definitely had her eyes set on him; he was an attractive guy and seemed really nice. The only problem was that he had barely given her the time of day since she arrived on the island, which certainly didn't make her feel very confident about her chances with him.

She felt determined, however, to finally find a man. She had been single for far too long... she was willing to do almost anything to change that.

* * *

Ryan MacPherson and Dale Mooney were preparing for the wedding as well; Dale was helping his boyfriend Ryan get into his tux. When he was all buttoned up, Ryan turned around to show Dale.

"Well? How do I look?" asked Ryan with a smile.

"You look hot, babe," said Dale. "The hottest groomsman I've ever had the pleasure of dating."

Ryan laughed as he leaned in to kiss Dale. He then went into the bathroom to fix up his hair, and Dale sat by the window, gazing longingly out at the scenery, a million thoughts swimming through his head. He had had his doubts about coming to this wedding, not knowing a single soul other than Ryan. But he had gone out of his way to get to know these people and had actually made a few friends. He felt comfortable now in his surroundings.

There was still something, however, that was a bit unnerving to him. Dale had known from news broadcasts about the terrible Harper's Island murders from ten years ago, and he had been feeling a bit uneasy about coming here to this island. Ryan, though, seemed to feel the exact opposite; he seemed almost obsessed with John Wakefield, with Henry Dunn, with practically anything relating to the horrible massacres that happened here. Dale knew that Ryan had an interest in the minds of psychopaths and murderers, but he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about Ryan's near-obsession with the criminal history of Harper's Island.

This was probably the worst time for Dale to start having these uneasy feelings, as he had planned to propose to Ryan during this romantic weeklong vacation. He was strongly hoping these feelings would subside and that he would gather up enough courage to ask for Ryan's hand in marriage, but these thoughts seemed to be consuming him at the moment, and he didn't like it.

It almost was at the point where whenever Ryan brought up Wakefield or Dunn, Dale felt scared. And he didn't like having that feeling.

* * *

The wedding was less than three hours away now, but Bronson Deeley still felt terribly distracted from all the events that had took place today. He finally cast those thoughts aside and focused on preparing for the wedding; he didn't have much time.

Bronson walked into the bathroom and stripped out of his clothes, turning the dial on the shower, his body naked, exposed, vulnerable. He stepped inside, under the hot refreshing water, trying his best to clear his mind of his falling out with his son and his argument with Gail. The hot shower was certainly helping to relax him, which is exactly what he needed before this big event.

The radio sitting on the sink next to the shower played a soft, relaxing tune which also helped to calm Bronson down; it had been a long, long time since he had felt this relaxed.

He was completely oblivious to the intruder that had entered his room.

Slowly and quietly, the person walked around the bedroom, and when they heard the water and the music coming from the bathroom, they knew that the person they were looking for was behind the bathroom door.

Slowly and quietly, the intruder opened the bathroom door, seeing the distorted image of the naked Bronson Deeley behind the frosted glass of the shower. The intruder smirked; just the person they were looking for.

Slowly and quietly, the person walked towards the shower. All the while, Bronson stood there, naked, exposed, vulnerable, completely unaware of what was happening just inches away from him.

The intruder gripped the baseball bat tightly in their hands. And then, in a sudden, quick movement, the person slid open the glass shower door, and before Bronson could comprehend anything, the intruder swung the baseball bat down over the old man's head, knocking him unconscious immediately. Bronson's body crumpled down onto the shower; his already bleeding head smashed against the ceramic wall of the shower, doing even more damage to his brittle skull.

It just took a few more smashes of the baseball bat to ensure the killer that Bronson Deeley was dead.

The killer turned the knobs of the shower, shutting the water off, and, zipping open the large bag they were holding, stuffed Bronson's wrinkly body inside.

The killer needed to get to the church, and fast. There wasn't much time left.

* * *

Shea Allen felt very apprehensive. Everything Bri had told her earlier that day was replaying in her head. She took what Bri said very seriously, and truly believed that, once the wedding was over, that she needed to get away. The fact that Abby had still not contacted her worried her even more.

But then, as if on cue, Shea's phone began to jingle, letting her know she had an incoming text. Shea snatched her phone and clicked it open, relieved to see the text was from Abby.

"Meet me at the Tree of Woe right away. It's important."

Shea's feeling of relief turned to confusion. Abby knew the wedding was today; why would she have Shea trek all the way out to the Tree of Woe? Perhaps there was something there she needed to show Shea? Perhaps that was the only place she knew they would have complete privacy? Shea decided not to question it. Instead, she grabbed her overcoat, threw it over her red dress, and hurried out of the Candlewick, her heels clicking as she briskly walked along the pavement.

The walk to the tree seemed to take forever. Shea was so anxious to finally see a familiar face, someone who had gone what she had gone through, someone she could talk to. She was so excited to see Abby, and more importantly, to find out what was so urgent.

As Shea entered the forest, she struggled to walk over the uneven ground and tried her best not to dirty up her dress, but there was really only one thing on her mind right now. She needed to get to that tree.

She finally made it to the large open clearing where the Tree of Woe stood, the same tree where poor Abby had seen her dead mother hanging seventeen years ago.

And as soon as Shea laid her eyes on the tree, a loud scream escaped from her lips and she collapsed to her knees.

There, dangling by her neck from the branches of the Tree of Woe, was the corpse of Abby Mills.

* * *

The wedding guests began to assemble inside the church, excited for the big event. Vance White, the reverend, met with Graham in one of the back rooms of the church, joined by Andrew and Ryan.

"Andrew, where the hell is Mikey?" snapped Graham, seeming very tense.

"He had some laundry to do. He left me a text saying he should be here any second."

"Well, the bride will be here any minute. I think we might need to start without him," said Vance, looking at his watch. "Are you okay with that, Graham?"

"Yeah... I mean, I guess," said Graham, wiping sweat from his brow.

Ryan patted Graham on the back. "Relax, buddy. You're getting married. Be excited!"

Outside in the church, the guests lined the pews. Gail Mathis sat in the front row on the bride's side, and continuously glanced over to the groom's side, noticing the front row was suspiciously empty. She had hoped that the confrontation she had had earlier with Bronson hadn't kept him from showing up to his own son's wedding.

"God, where's Dad? I'm surprised he's late..." Rachael whispered to Franklin; she, too, kept looking at the church's doors, waiting for her father to show up.

"He'll make it," whispered Franklin.

Several minutes passed, however, and neither Mikey nor Bronson showed up. After walking out into the church, the first thing Graham noticed was the absence of his father, and he felt a large pit in his stomach, which represented both disappointment and anger.

But the wedding continued on as planned. Music emanated from the church's sound system as the only two bridesmaids slowly walked down the aisle, holding their bouquets. Bri then walked down the aisle, looking rather miserable, but still doing her duties and tossing flower petals onto the floor, joining Andrea and Haley in the front of the church. The music then shifted to the bridal chorus, and Julie appeared, wearing her beautiful white wedding dress. Graham smiled at her from the front of the church as she slowly made her way toward him.

Finally, she reached the front of the church, and Vance commenced the ceremony. All the while, Yulissa stared at Graham from the pews, an invisible dagger stabbing at her heart. The man of her dreams was now marrying someone else, and it killed her inside.

The ceremony progressed smoothly, and finally Julie and Graham began to recite their vows and exchanged their rings.

"If there is anyone here who objects to the marriage between these two fine young people, speak now or forever hold your peace," boomed Vance, his voice echoing throughout the church.

Everyone sat in silence, though Yulissa secretly imagined herself standing up, stopping the wedding, taking Graham from Julie and living with him happily ever after. Instead, however, she simply closed her eyes and lowered her head.

After a few seconds, Vance glanced over at Luke and nodded slightly at him. That was Luke's cue to do his one duty in the ceremony: to ring the church bell. Luke got up from his seat and walked over to the rope hanging on the side of the church.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you, Graham Deeley, and you, Julie Mathis, man and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Immediately after Vance said these words, Luke pulled viciously on the rope, the sounds of the bell ringing throughout the church.

And suddenly, before the newly wedded Julie and Graham had the chance to kiss each other, a loud tumbling sound was heard coming from the bell tower just overhead.

A few seconds later, from the opening in the ceiling leading to the bell tower above, something fell with a heavy thud, landing directly in the middle of the aisle, just behind Julie and Graham.

It was the naked, battered, bloody corpse of Bronson Deeley, on display for everyone in the church to see.


	6. Episode 5: Vroom

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE FIVE: "VROOM"

* * *

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Dale

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Haley

Josh

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Rachael

Ryan

Shea

Vance

Yulissa

* * *

Gasps, screams, and sobs echoed throughout the church. They were the only noises anyone could think to make at a moment like this.

Julie Mathis had let out a loud scream of her own as her eyes were transfixed on the dead body; small splats of blood from the corpse of Bronson Deeley had now stained her perfectly white dress. Her groom, Graham Deeley, had a very opposite reaction: he simply stood rigidly still, emotionless, in a complete state of shock.

"Oh my Lord..." uttered Vance White, the minister, whose eyes were also glued, horrified, upon the body laying before him.

Bronson Deeley's body was contorted, twisted, and completely naked; it was almost artistic in a way, yet horribly gruesome. And his body was a sign to everyone within the church that there was a killer out there, and any one of them could be next.

* * *

Hours passed since the wedding ceremony, and everyone had gone their separate ways, all of them still very shaken up by the day's events.

Graham and Julie had returned to their room. Graham hadn't spoken a word since saying "I do" at the wedding, which now seemed like an eternity ago to him. His mind was swimming; he kept replaying that horrible encounter he had with his father, the very last time he had ever spoken to him, seen him alive. And Graham had lashed out at him, lost his temper, thrown his own father out of his room. Graham had been furious with his dad, but now none of that anger existed within him. It had all been replaced now by guilt.

The newlywed couple sat in complete silence in their large suite. Julie couldn't bear seeing Graham so distraught, yet she knew he didn't want to talk. So, without saying a word, she excused herself from the room and went down the hall to room 215.

She knocked on the door and it almost immediately swung open. Gail Mathis immediately outstretched her arms and Julie lunged herself at her mother, giving her a hug and starting to cry.

She was still wearing her blood-stained wedding dress.

* * *

Shea Allen could barely control her emotions anymore. Abby Mills, one of the only survivors from the original Harper's Island massacre, was now dead, in front of her very eyes. As the tears streamed down her face, a million thoughts were running through her mind.

Everything she had suspected and feared were now coming to fruition: there was a killer on the island. She then immediately started to fear and panic about her daughter, Madison's safety as well. In spite of the fact she was back home on the mainland, Shea had a terrible suspicion that this killer was perhaps coming after her and her daughter, maybe even Jimmy Mance as well, possibly in order to wipe out any of the original survivors of the massacre.

An hour passed by, which to Shea felt like seconds, and Abby's corpse was still dangling from the Tree of Woe, pale and lifeless. Shea finally gathered enough strength to bring herself to her feet, with only one thing now in her mind.

She needed to get off this island.

* * *

Amanda Mathis, Andrea Northcott, Andrew McCaffrey, Haley Mathis, and Josh Weeks were all gathered in the ballroom of the Candlewick Inn, the very scene where they found the bloody cloth and their suspicions began.

"Didi's gotta be dead. That was definitely part of her shirt we found here, and the killer definitely wrote that note that was in her room," Andrew said aloud, trying to piece everything together.

"But everyone else who's gone missing... Stacy, Maria... Mikey... you think they're all dead too?" said Haley quietly, but nobody responded. Even though they all knew it was probably true, none of them wanted to make themselves believe it.

Andrew suddenly covered his face with his hands. The thought of his little brother being dead was not something he wanted to think about right now. Several seconds passed and he felt a warm hand caressing his back; he looked up to see it was the beautiful redheaded Andrea, smiling slightly at him, trying to ease his pain.

And without warning, without thinking, Andrew leaned in and started kissing Andrea. He didn't know exactly why he did it; perhaps the pain of knowing his brother could be gone was too much for him to bear, and he wanted to do anything possible to rid himself of that pain. Nonetheless, the two remained liplocked for several seconds, but nobody around them seemed to really notice or care. Except for one person, who stared at the kissing couple with a horrible scowl on her face. This was the guy she had set her sights on, the one she was hoping to call her boyfriend by the end of this week.

Amanda Mathis was suddenly burning up with jealousy.

* * *

Yulissa White lay on the soft cushiony couch in the living room of her father's house, staring blankly at the ceiling, thinking about nothing except for Graham Deeley. Sure, the events of the wedding were gruesome and it was terrible that a man was now dead, but Yulissa couldn't stop thinking about Graham, her only true love in life, and how much he must be grieving right now.

Vance White stood in the kitchen, fixing up a pot of coffee. He was still a bit shaken up by the day's events, but he was also feeling a great sense of joy that his daughter was actually under his roof. His relationship with Yulissa had seriously fractured over the last few years; she had always wanted to be independent and live on her own, and it got to the point where the two rarely spoke. And now, after so many years, Yulissa was here in his house.

Vance brought two mugs filled with coffee into the living room. He set one of them on the coffee table, and then sat down in an armchair, sipping on his own cup. Several seconds of silence went by; Vance tried his hardest to think of something to say. He wanted to take advantage of every moment he had alone with his daughter.

"Well... interesting day to say the least, huh?" he said awkwardly. It was the only thing he could think of to say.

Yulissa didn't give a response; she kept staring at the ceiling. Eventually, she turned over and sat up, facing her father.

"I can't even imagine how Graham must be feeling right now," she said suddenly; it was more of a vocalized thought rather than a comment to her father.

"I'm sure he's in a lot of pain. It's a lot to take in; seeing your father's battered dead body drop a mere feet away from you, on your wedding day. It's unfathomable, really," said Vance, shaking his head and taking another sip of coffee.

Yulissa stared absently at the floor, still thinking intently about Graham.

"Drink some of your coffee, honey. It'll make you feel better," Vance said after another long stretch of silence.

He didn't get the response he was hoping for, however; instead, Yulissa got to her feet.

"Thanks Dad, but I can't. I need to go see Graham," she said hurriedly, and before Vance could protest, she was out the door. The reverend let out a heavy sigh; Yulissa was slipping away from him more and more by the second, and with a killer on the loose once again, he wanted nothing more than to spend every moment possible with his only daughter.

* * *

Dale Mooney sat on the edge of the king-sized bed, which, just a few hours ago, was occupied by him and his boyfriend, Ryan MacPherson. After the horrific events of the wedding, however, that moment seemed like an eternity ago to Dale. The images kept replaying in his mind, of Graham's father's body laying there, bloody and broken, in the middle of the church. It was a gruesome scene, and whoever had done this to Bronson Deeley clearly managed to accomplish what they were after: the killer had instilled fear in all the wedding guests.

Ryan MacPherson stepped out of the bathroom, having just washed his face with warm water, which Dale suggested to help ease his mind. As much as Ryan was fascinated by death and murder, the events at the church were a lot for him to handle as well. This was the father of one of his best friends, his college roommate, that had been brutally murdered. It was a lot to soak in.

After drying his face, Ryan joined Dale on the end of the bed. Dale's first instinct was to hug his boyfriend, the only person with whom he truly felt close on this island, the only person that he could confide in, the only person with whom he felt safe. And then, Dale began to cry uncontrollably into Ryan's shoulder. Everything that had happened was just so overwhelming to him, he could think of nothing else to do. Ryan returned the hug, embracing his boyfriend, but didn't shed a tear of his own.

While Dale was clearly expressing a great deal of fear and grief, Ryan was feeling quite the opposite.

Ryan MacPherson felt nothing but anger.

* * *

Rachael Bingham was probably one of the most emotionally shaken up of all the wedding guests. The family of four - her husband, Franklin, and her children, Bri and Luke - were all gathered in her bedroom, feeling that they needed to stay together as a family more than ever right now. Franklin gave Rachael a tall glass of water and sat down beside her on the bed, caressing her back as tears streamed down her face. It was perhaps the kindest Bri and Luke had ever seen their father act toward their mother.

Neither Bri nor Luke showed very much emotion; Bri sat upright, her eyes glazed over, clearly in deep thought, a million things running through her mind. Luke simply sat hunched, cracking his knuckles, looking at the floor.

"I'm sure by the end of the day we'll all be outta here. We'll take some boats and we'll go back to the mainland," said Franklin in an uncharacteristically calm and soothing voice.

Rachael sniffed. "I can't leave my father's body here. And I can't leave here without knowing who did this."

"She's right," muttered Luke. "As much as I'd love to get out of this shit hole, how are we ever gonna find out who's been doing this? All the evidence is right here on the island."

"We've got the police here to handle that," replied Franklin.

"How do we know they're not dead too?" said Luke, very matter-of-factly.

There was a long pause. Bri suddenly stood up, a panicked look on her face.

"What is it, honey?" asked Rachael.

"We have to find Shea."

* * *

Shea Allen raced to the marina, desperate to find a boat and get the hell off this island. She couldn't even think about the fates of the other wedding guests at this point; she couldn't bear it. All she cared about now was to get off this island, away from the murders, and get back home safely to her daughter Madison.

But Shea's heart lurched when she saw what was at the marina. Or rather, her heart lurched when she saw what wasn't at the marina.

There wasn't a single boat attached to the docks.

Immediately, Shea began to panic. She sprinted over to the harbormaster's office on the other side of the marina. Without even knocking, she burst through the door. Lying motionless on the floor in their own blood were the two harbormasters, both brutally slaughtered. Shea didn't even scream; the emotion of finding Abby's dead body had practically desensitized her. Instead, Shea looked at the bodies, noticing that their blood was still somewhat wet: they couldn't have been dead for any longer than 24 hours.

And instantly, an overwhelming fear came over Shea Allen.

A killer was most definitely on this island. And there was no way out.

* * *

Amanda Mathis was lying on her bed, alone in her room, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company. In spite of everything that had gone on in the church earlier that day, Amanda could think of nothing else but that kiss between Andrea and Andrew. Being single at 32 years old was never something Amanda had imagined for herself, or hoped for. She had never had a boyfriend, never had someone to care about her; her own family hardly cared about her. All this made Amanda Mathis a very lonely person.

Andrew McCaffrey was someone Amanda was indeed attracted to, but alas, just like every other guy she had had her eyes set on, he barely knew, or cared, that she existed. Perhaps it was just Amanda's lack of social skills that was her biggest fault; she certainly didn't see herself as ugly or mean. She was just a very quiet person, which always made her sort of the black sheep of her family.

Suddenly, a knock came at Amanda's door, which surprised and startled her. 'Who could possibly be wanting to see me right now?' she thought. Nonetheless, she got up and opened the door. There at the threshold stood Julie Mathis, her own sister, the woman whom had hurt her so much by refusing to ask her to be in her own wedding party.

Julie grinned slightly at her sister. "Hi. Can I come in?"

Amanda didn't respond, but she stepped aside to allow her sister to enter. The two women sat down and a rather uncomfortable silence followed.

"So... um, how is Graham doing?" asked Amanda awkwardly.

"Not so great. He hasn't said a word," replied Julie.

"Look... I'm really sorry about all this, about how your wedding was ruined..."

"Don't be sorry. This is something really serious, and really scary. And to be honest, it's something I've kind of been expecting ever since we got here," added Julie.

"You've been expecting it?" asked Amanda suspiciously.

"Well, not specifically what happened today. But with all the terrible history that this island has... it always really worried me and scared me that we would be having our wedding on the same island where another wedding was brutally murdered," said Julie quietly, and she literally shivered as a chill went down her spine.

Another long silence occurred between the two women, before Amanda once again broke it.

"So, um... so why exactly did you come to see me?" she asked.

Julie looked up at her sister, finally looking her in the eye, and Amanda could see a tear trickling down Julie's face.

"I'm scared, Amanda. And ever since all this started happening, I've been really scared for our family. One of us could be next. And at a time like this... family is more important to me than anything."

Amanda didn't respond; instead, she slightly scoffed and looked almost offended.

"So you're saying it took the death of your fiance's father in order for you to finally come to me? You've been a terrible sister, Julie. I've been your big sister for 30 years and you still barely even acknowledge me. You ask me to your wedding but you don't put me in your wedding party? That hurts, Julie. It hurts that you chose a joke like Stacy Stone over me..."

Julie jumped to her feet, now looking angry. "Stacy's probably dead, Amanda! How can you be so goddamn selfish at a time like this?!"

"I'm not being selfish, Julie," said Amanda, remaining calm. "I just want an answer why, after all these years, you've been so distant. Why everyone in our family has treated me like the outcast."

Julie did not sit back down. She stood with her arms folded, tears still rolling down her cheeks, her face now red with anger. "I think you've just proven why, you cold-hearted bitch."

And without waiting for a response, Julie left the room and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

Gail Mathis sat alone in her room, staring blankly at an arbitrary spot, deep in thought. Like most of the other wedding guests, she kept thinking of the scene in the church, of Bronson Deeley, the man who had confronted her before the wedding, the man who, just hours later, was brutally murdered and put on display in front of everyone.

The conversation she had had with Bronson before his death remained embedded in her brain. Her guilt about her criminalistic past had been building suddenly over the last couple days, but seeing Bronson explode at her so viciously had sent her over the edge. She couldn't bear to deal with the guilt of her actions anymore.

Just then, a knock came at her door. Gail opened it to find Laurie Northcott standing there; surprisingly, she was grinning at her sister-in-law. The two women sat down, but Gail avoided eye contact. The last discussion she had had with Laurie had been similar to the one with Bronson; it had ended with Gail feeling miserable with guilt.

"Look, Gail... I know what I said to you a couple days ago, well... kind of upset you," said Laurie. "But after everything that happened today... well, it just allowed me to put things into perspective. And I apologize for the things I said."

Gail simply sat there; she did not respond, and she did not look Laurie in the eye.

"I'm not expecting you to accept my apology just yet," continued Laurie. "I just want you to know how I feel. I'm sure you're a little freaked out just like everyone else is, I'm sure." And with that, the beautiful country singer stood up and excused herself from the room.

Truth be told, Laurie Northcott still had an extreme hatred for Gail Mathis. She was the woman who framed her husband, she was the reason he was stuck behind bars.

But with a killer now on the loose, Laurie much preferred to be safe than sorry.

* * *

Graham Deeley had locked himself in his room for hours. The sun was now starting to set. He could think of nothing else but his father, his horrible last moments with him, and how guilty he felt for what he had said and done to the man that had loved him and raised him.

The more he thought about it, the more trivial the whole blowout seemed to him. Bronson had simply been concerned for his son; he was giving Graham a warning. And the more Graham thought of it, perhaps his father's concerns were true. It seemed as though everything had been going downhill ever since he came to the island, with the entire Mathis family in his company.

Perhaps a Mathis was behind all this.

Graham tried his hardest to rid himself of these thoughts; this was his bride's family he was now suspecting of murder. He knew the Mathis family had a few blemishes on their criminal records, but he knew none of them could be killers.

...Or could they?

Nonetheless, Graham knew above all else that he needed to protect the people he loved and cared about, the people that were still alive. He got to his feet for the first time in hours, and he walked over to the large chestnut dresser on the other side of the room. He opened one of the top two drawers, and sitting there was a pistol. Graham had been carrying a gun on him for years; he was the first person to admit that he was a paranoid person, but he felt he could never be too safe.

And now was a more perfect time than ever to be armed. There was a killer out there on the island, someone who had just brutally murdered his father, along with several other innocent people, no doubt.

Whoever that person was... Graham Deeley was going to make sure they'd pay.

* * *

Dusk began to fall on Harper's Island. Julie Mathis had called up the trolley conductor to transport all the wedding guests to the marina so they could leave the island. It needed to be done.

As Julie, accompanied by several other wedding guests, waited outside for the trolley to arrive, she noticed someone in the distance, wearing what once had been a bright red dress, but was now dirt-stained and faded. Shea Allen was running, as fast as she could, toward the inn. She was clearly emotionally disheveled.

"Shea! What's going on?" Rachael Bingham asked her friend as Shea approached the crowd.

Shea took a few seconds to catch her breath before she could speak. "The marina... all the boats are gone. The harbormasters are dead..."

Several gasps were heard among the crowd, many of their faces showing complete terror.

"There's a killer on the island again!" screamed Shea.

"We know, Shea... at the wedding... my dad..." began Rachael, but her voice cracked and she stopped speaking.

Shea shook her head, still breathing heavily. "I can't.... I can't handle this..."

Julie, who perhaps looked the most terrified out of anyone, spoke up in as calm of a tone as she could muster. "Okay, everyone, seriously, let's try not to panic. Maybe we can get to the police station... if they're still there, I'm sure they can help us out. Maybe get a plane or helicopter or boat or something to come get us off this island."

"That's a good idea," said Rachael, who had now suddenly regained her composure.

"I don't know if we should all go, though," said Andrea Northcott. "I'd say maybe one or two people go and get some help. The rest of us stay here, where we're all together and... I dunno, maybe at least a little bit safe..."

"I saw a truck out in the lot, we might be able to use that," said Rachael.

"Perfect. Who wants to volunteer?" asked Ryan MacPherson.

Haley Mathis, the maid of honor, looked over at her boyfriend, Josh Weeks, who returned her stare. She nodded at him, and he very subtly nodded back.

"Josh and I will go. You guys stay here at the inn; stay together. We'll get there as soon as we can, and we'll call you up when we get some info," said Haley.

Julie suddenly started crying, and she threw her arms around her little sister. "Please be careful," she whispered.

Haley patted Julie on the back, then broke from the hug, grabbed Josh's hand, and pulled him along to the lot of the Candlewick, where a single green truck was parked. The doors were unlocked and the keys sat perfectly on the driver's seat, as if welcoming someone to just jump right in and drive it. Despite the suspicion of it all, Haley hopped right into the driver's seat as Josh took his place on the passenger's side. She thrust the keys into the ignition, turned it on, and drove out the gravely parking lot as music started blasting from the stereo system.

Due to the rocky conditions of the unpaved roads, Haley barely accelerated the car. At the same time, she was taking extra caution to keep an eye out for any surprises that might jump out. With a killer on the loose, needless to say it made her a bit nervous.

The road from the Candlewick to the police station brought the couple through a thick part of the woods, and the rocky street steadily began to steepen; the fact that the Candlewick was set on the highest point of Harper's Island meant that, naturally, the road would eventually be going downhill. As the angle of the road increased, the large truck began to pick up speed. Haley gently tapped the break.

Nothing happened.

Suddenly, Haley's heart began to rapidly beat. Josh looked over at his girlfriend, noticing she was starting to panic.

"Josh... Josh... the brakes..." she stuttered, gripping the steering wheel tightly, now trying to slam on the brakes, but with no result. The car was continuing to gain speed as the road grew even steeper. "JOSH!"

The road grew steeper and the car moved faster. There was nothing they could do. The car was moving too fast now for them to jump out; surely they'd be killed if they even tried. Haley spotted a giant, menacing oak tree right ahead of them, when the otherwise straight rocky road would finally make a turn. She knew she only had seconds left.

Haley Mathis looked over at her boyfriend, panicking and terrified, tears already forming in her eyes.

Josh Weeks looked over at her as well, showing hardly any emotion of his own. But Haley could have sworn she saw a single tear glimmering in his eye. A split second before the truck crashed explosively into the massive oak tree, Josh uttered three words, loudly and clearly.

"I love you."


	7. Episode 6: Shatter

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE SIX: "SHATTER"

* * *

Amanda

Andrea

Andrew

Bri

Dale

Franklin

Gail

Graham

Julie

Laurie

Luke

Rachael

Ryan

Shea

Vance

Yulissa

* * *

An hour had passed since Haley Mathis and Josh Weeks had left for the police station; the sun had now set, nobody had heard anything from the couple, and Julie Mathis could only think the worst as she stood at one of the giant windows, glaring out into the darkness.

She ran her hands through her long blond hair, tears forming in her eyes, starting to panic. "There's something wrong. They should have called by now. The killer...the killer must have got them," she gasped, unable to hold back her tears any longer. She checked her phone again to see if she had missed a call, but there was nothing.

Andrea Northcott walked up behind her cousin and began to rub her shoulders to calm her down. "You can't assume the worst, babe. They could be lost, or they could have no service... there's, like, a million reasons why they haven't called."

Andrea's stepmother, Laurie, suddenly stepped into the scene. "I hate to be the wet blanket here, but this killer... I mean, they could be anywhere."

"If there is a killer on this island," said Gail Mathis, sitting on a nearby armchair, listening to the whole conversation, "it must be someone in this wedding party."

All three women shot looks of fear and terror at Gail after hearing this.

"You say you think Didi the innkeeper's been killed. Nobody else but this wedding party has access to this hotel for the entire week. And Bronson... he was killed and put on display at the wedding ceremony. It's got to be one of us."

Consumed so much by all the emotions that had overwhelmed her over the past few days, Gail spoke in a very matter-of-fact and desensitized tone. Even the prospect of her own daughter, Haley, being dead hadn't seemed to phase her. But all the while, the truth of Gail's statement hit Julie Mathis like a bag of bricks.

It only made sense for the killer to be a wedding guest.

* * *

The Bingham family sat in an adjacent room; Luke and Bri sat on the large, plush couch while Rachael sat cuddled up on a sleeping Franklin's lap in a large chair. Shea Allen sat on a nearby stool, twiddling her thumbs, being able to think of nothing but all the death she had witnessed in just one day.

Bri broke the long stretch of silence that lingered in the room, and she turned to face Shea.

"You said your friend Abby's dead... what about the other guy who survived last time? Abby's boyfriend?" she asked quietly.

Rachael perked her head up and glared at her daughter. "Bri! Leave Shea alone!"

Shea simply waved her hand at Rachael. "It's okay, Rachael." She then looked Bri in the eye. "I'm going to tell him in due time, Bri. But for now, I don't think it would be a good idea to get him involved. For all I know, this killer could be out to kill all the survivors of the original massacre, and if that's true, I don't want to bring him, or Madison, into the mix."

Bri smirked comfortingly and patted Shea on the hand. "I think that's the best idea, Shea. We all need to get through this together."

Rachael and Luke exchanged concerned looks; perhaps it was the possibility that Bri had been summoning her Wicca powers to predict more things for the future? Perhaps it was the fact Bri was starting to become too close to Shea, who was essentially like a walking target? Or perhaps it was something else...

* * *

Graham Deeley stood in his room, staring at the pistol in his hand. Every fiber of his being wanted so badly to find the culprit, find the person responsible for killing his father, and quite possibly killing other people he cared about, like Didi and Mikey.

Suddenly, without warning, someone burst through his bedroom door. His reflexes caused him to cock the gun and point it at the intruder, who let out a high-pitched scream.

It was Yulissa White.

"Graham! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked.

Graham immediately put down the gun. "Yulie, what are you doing here?"

"I-I came here to see you! And I'm damn glad I did! Why are you holding a gun?!" she shouted.

"Shhh!" Graham shushed her and approached her, placing an arm on her shoulder to calm her down. "Relax, Yulie, I'm not gonna kill anyone."

"You... you didn't kill your dad, did you?" asked Yulissa, though she immediately regretted saying the words as soon as they left her mouth; she couldn't believe she was accusing Graham of murder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"No, it's okay. It's okay. I didn't kill him. But whoever did is sure as hell gonna pay," he said, eying the gun again, and Yulissa looked uneasily at him.

Several seconds passed; Yulissa's heart pounded against her chest. She had come here to comfort Graham, to see how he was doing... but above all else, she came here to tell him something. To tell him her true feelings.

"Listen... Graham... there's something I have to tell you..." she said, her voice shaking.

"What is it, Yulie?" Graham asked after she went quiet for several seconds.

Yulissa took a deep breath, trying to find the strength to get the words out.

"Graham... I love you."

And suddenly, a rush of courage went through Yulissa. She did something that she had never had enough guts to do in her entire life, in spite of having these feelings for as long as she could remember. Yulissa lunged at Graham, threw her arms around him, and began to kiss him.

And, to Yulissa's delight, Graham did not pull away.

The moment happened all so fast; it was like a blur. Yulissa pulled Graham's shirt off and began running her hands down his chiseled abs. He reciprocated and began to undress her as well. The two of them fell backwards onto the large, plush bed of the honeymoon suite.

The very bed that Julie and Graham were supposed to be happily sleeping in as the newly married couple.

* * *

Ryan MacPherson, Dale Mooney, Andrew McCaffrey, and Amanda Mathis were all gathered in the sitting room on the first floor, right near the front entrance of the Candlewick. The wedding guests had all agreed to stay in groups of at least three or four, as there was always strength in numbers.

Dale was sleeping soundly, his head laying on Ryan's shoulder, who in turn was stroking Dale's arm lovingly. Amanda, on the other hand, sat awkwardly beside Andrew. So many feelings were bottled up inside her. This was her moment, her chance... she was finally alone with Andrew, or as alone as she would likely ever get with him. She looked over at the gay couple sitting across from her, longingly wishing she had someone to care about her like that. The kiss between Andrea and Andrew kept replaying in her brain, as much as she tried to erase it completely.

Amanda decided it was finally time to act on her feelings. She looked over at Andrew, stared at him for several seconds, but he never returned her gaze. Instead, he simply stared into space, thinking about his brother, and how he was likely dead. He also was thinking of Andrea Northcott, the beautiful redhead, whom he had shared that passionate moment with earlier in the day. He thought of how much she had eased his pain, and how he wished she was here right now to comfort him again.

Suddenly, Amanda Mathis leaned in and awkwardly placed a kiss on Andrew's cheek, and he immediately turned his head to look at Amanda. She immediately blushed and pulled away.

"I'm... I'm sorry," she stuttered.

"Sorry Amanda, but now's really not the time," he said, and he looked away again, rubbing his temple, returning to his thoughts about his brother.

Amanda curled up into a ball on her chair and hugged her knees. She wanted to cry. She had been given this one chance, a perfect chance, to finally score with someone, to maybe finally get a boyfriend.

And she totally blew it.

* * *

More time had passed; it was almost 4 AM, and Julie was losing patience.

"Alright, I'm done waiting. We need to go out there and get help. It's been hours," she said, finally leaving her spot by the large window. Julie prayed for the best, that Haley and Josh had made it to the police station in one piece, that they were getting help and that everyone would soon be rescued... but she couldn't help but think the worst.

"Julie, it's not safe..." said Gail meekly.

"Mom! Haley's out there! She could be dead! Why aren't you as worried as I am?!"

Before waiting for a response from her mother, Julie looked around the large room, noticing it was emptier than it had been before. Her heart began to race.

"Where's Andrea and Laurie?"

* * *

The country singer and her beautiful stepdaughter had left the room, feeling Julie and Gail needed their space; after all, Haley had now gone missing. It was all very hard for Andrea to comprehend as well... she had been very close to her cousins Julie and Haley growing up (she had never really bonded much with Amanda). And with these murders occurring now, it was all very scary to her.

But there was one person here on the island with her that she trusted and loved more than anything. Laurie Northcott may not have been Andrea's biological mother, but she was the closest thing she had ever known to a real mother. The two had so much in common; in fact, Andrea considered Laurie as more of a sister than a mother. She felt so secure and safe with Laurie nearby.

As the two women strolled through the Candlewick, they made sure to remain extra cautious. Gail's statement had kept replaying in their minds, about how the killer had to have been one of the wedding guests. If that was the case, then the killer was almost definitely here in this building. Andrea almost started to regret leaving Julie and Gail, but she was a strong woman, and, together with Laurie, she felt confident she'd be able to take down any foe.

"How 'bout we go to the ballroom and play a little music? Calm our minds a bit?" asked Laurie in her Southern drawl.

Andrea nodded in agreement and the two women reached the giant doors leading to the ballroom, which was very dimly lit, the moonlight shining through the giant windows. As the women made their way to the other end of the ballroom where the grand piano sat majestically, Andrea could have sworn she heard a third pair of footsteps behind them.

Laurie took her seat on the cushy piano bench as Andrea stood nearby, resting her elbow upon the shiny piano top. Laurie began to play a soothing tune, which echoed eerily throughout the empty ballroom.

Andrea and Laurie sang in unison, smiling and laughing as they did so. And then, Laurie stroked one of the higher keys on the piano, but scrunched her face in confusion when no noise emitted from the piano. They both stopped singing; Laurie tapped the key several times again, but no music was heard.

"Hmm. That's funny," she said.

Andrea lifted the cover of the piano to look inside; she immediately noticed one of the piano wires had been snapped and was missing.

"There's a wire missing..." said Andrea, still looking inside the piano. She was suddenly startled by a loud gasping and gagging sound. Andrea bolted upright to find the missing piano wire wrapped tightly around Laurie Northcott's neck. Laurie clawed at the wire, trying to get it off, but there was someone behind her pulling it tighter and tighter.

"Andrea... help..." Laurie choked, but the wire dug deeper into the country singer's neck, ripping into her vocal chords. Andrea was paralyzed with fear; she simply stood and watched the scene play out before her, not even getting a glance of the person strangling her stepmother.

Laurie kicked and struggled, but she was losing strength. Her eyes began rolling into the back of her head, and the wire was now cutting through her neck. Blood seeped from the cut, and with one final, powerful yank, the killer pulled on the wire. Laurie Northcott's head became detached from her neck and dropped on the floor with a loud thud. Andrea screamed, but the killer lunged forward and covered the redhead's mouth with their hand, silencing her cries for help, making sure nobody in the Candlewick heard her.

Andrea could think of nothing to do now but sob. Watching Laurie get murdered in front of her, Andrea suddenly felt powerless, defenseless. And then, the wire that had just killed her stepmother was now being wrapped around her own neck. Unlike Laurie, however, Andrea didn't put up a fight. She had lost all energy, all hope. Andrea had already accepted her fate.

In the moments before the piano wire beheaded the gorgeous Andrea Northcott, she looked up into the eyes of her killer; those wicked, remorseless eyes that seemed to smile with evil pleasure. Andrea couldn't believe that this was the person responsible for terrorizing the wedding.

But before she could think of anything else, everything went black, and Andrea's head plopped onto the floor, conveniently rolling and stopping right next to the head of her beloved stepmother.

* * *

Hours passed, and sunlight finally began to peer its way over Harper's Island. Most of the wedding guests had fallen asleep in their positions, many of them exhausted after the long and stressful day. Gail had convinced Julie to get some rest and not worry about looking for people until the morning; as difficult as it was for her, Julie managed to fall asleep in her mother's arms.

Miles away from the Candlewick, in the small house of the Whites, Vance the reverend lay on his couch, having hardly gotten any sleep at all the night before. He felt terribly lonely, now more than ever, after the murder of Bronson Deeley. He had been unfortunate enough to live through both Harper's Island massacres, but had also been quite fortunate to have survived, along with his beloved daughter, Yulissa.

But now, he didn't feel quite so secure. He and Yulissa were involved now in this wedding. They were part of the central group that seemed to be getting targeted. This, to Vance, was not a good sign.

And, unlike the last two massacres, Yulissa had seemed so willing to leave her father's side and go off on her own. It made Vance nervous; he worried about his daughter every day, despite the fact that she was slipping away from him further and further by the minute, it seemed. But Vance couldn't help but be concerned about his daughter's safety. With yet another murderer on the loose, all he wanted right now was to be close with his daughter.

As much as he hated to think about it, each second they had spent together could possibly be their last.

As the sunlight started to peek through the windows of the Whites' house, glistening the glass and creating unique shapes and patterns on the walls and floors, Vance sprung up off the couch for the first time in hours and rushed to the closet near the front door. He snatched his black coat off the hanger, flung it over his shoulders, and forcefully stormed out the door.

He couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't going to sit here in his house, alone, doing nothing. He needed to be with the wedding party to support them, to help protect them. And most importantly, he needed to be with his daughter.

* * *

Julie Mathis woke up as soon as the sun began to slightly light up the room in which she had been sleeping. Her mother, Gail, was still snoring slightly in the large armchair. The pretty young blonde stood up; she had been well rested, but she had certainly not forgotten anything about last night. She needed to find her friends and family. But first, there was one person she wanted to see more than anyone else right now.

Her groom. Graham Deeley.

Julie briskly walked through the hotel, searching for the love of her life. She needed to see him, to have him comfort her, to help her deal with all the stress she was feeling. She was sure he was also going through a lot of stress and heartache right now, and she figured he would need Julie to comfort her as well.

One of the last places she looked was the honeymoon suite. She opened the door, walked in, and her heart dropped.

There, on the bed, under the covers, with no clothes on, sleeping in each other's arms, were Graham Deeley and Yulissa White.

* * *

More and more of the wedding guests began to wake up, and eventually they all met together in the large sitting room. Julie had returned, but was remaining very quiet. Tears were streaming down her face, but nobody questioned her, assuming she had just been overcome with emotion over the events at the wedding.

"Alright, we haven't gotten any word from Haley or Josh, right?" said Andrew McCaffrey, who had decided to conduct the meeting.

There was no response, so Andrew continued.

"We're not gonna get anything accomplished by sitting here in the Candlewick, so I think the best thing for us to do is to stick together and just search the island, see if anybody else is around. We'll be fine if we stay together in a group, but we'll need to be armed. I know there's a gun cabinet here in the inn, and there should be enough for about half of us."

The group agreed; Andrew led them all to the cabinet located right near Didi's room. Inside were shotguns, which he handed to himself, Ryan, Dale, Franklin, and Luke. There was a sixth gun inside.

"Do any of the women know how to shoot a shotgun?" asked Andrew, but before he got an answer, another male voice spoke up.

"I'll take that last gun, Andrew." Graham Deeley stood in the back of the group, with Yulissa standing by his side.

Julie suddenly felt a surge of anger and hatred. Graham stepped forward, received the gun from Andrew, and rubbed Julie's shoulder as he walked past her again. Another tear fell down her face, but she quickly wiped it away. Now was not the time to let her emotions get the better of her; first and foremost, she needed to get off this island safely.

* * *

The group of thirteen - Amanda Mathis, Andrew McCaffrey, Bri Bingham, Dale Mooney, Franklin Bingham, Gail Mathis, Graham Deeley, Julie Mathis, Luke Bingham, Rachael Bingham, Ryan MacPherson, Shea Allen, and Yulissa White - all traversed the island together, in a tight cluster, trying to stay safe. None of them for certain knew who or what exactly they were trying to stay safe from; for all they knew, the killer could have been within their cluster of people right now. But if that was the case, the killer would be absurd to do anything now, with six people armed with powerful shotguns.

They walked down deserted roads, through thick forests, up rocky hills, all the while seeing no sign of human life. The island was like a ghost town.

"Where the hell is everyone?" muttered Ryan under his breath, holding his shotgun up high, ready to fire at any disturbance.

Ryan, Graham, Andrew, Dale, and Franklin were all cautiously walking with their guns, while Luke, at only 18 years old, was smiling the whole time. It was his first time ever holding a real gun, one with a lot of power, one with the ability to kill just about anything with only one blow. He couldn't think of any greater pleasure than this.

Suddenly, Franklin heard something rustling as the group made its way through some woods. He immediately raised his gun up to eye level and put his finger on the trigger. Someone stumbled out from behind a thicket of trees, and Franklin was just about to fire when Vance White yelled out and threw his arms into the air.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" he begged.

"Franklin, put the gun down!" screamed Rachael, lunging at her husband and grabbing his wrists, pulling his arms down and seeming almost deranged as she did so.

"Dad! What are you doing out here?" Yulissa said as she made her way to the front of the group, getting closer to her father.

Vance didn't respond, but simply embraced his daughter in a hug and started to sob.

"Oh Yulie... I was so worried about you..."

After a few seconds, Yulissa pulled herself out of the hug and looked her father in the eye. "Dad, is there anybody else on the island? Anyone?"

"I... I haven't seen anyone... the place is practically deserted," he said, hiccuping through his tears.

"How the hell did everyone get off the island? This murderer couldn't have possibly killed every single person on this island in one night," said Gail.

"Who knows? Maybe Haley and Josh got to the police station okay, told them what was going on, and the island got evacuated," said Dale.

"Then why weren't we informed? And why haven't Haley and Josh gotten back to us?!" snapped Julie.

"Well, actually..." said Vance, starting to regain his composure. "There is something I should tell you all. The day before the wedding, I received a phone call from the police saying that they were evacuating the island temporarily. I asked why, but they wouldn't give me an answer. I... I should have told you all, but I figured we would continue with the wedding and leave immediately after. But... but then I got word that all the boats in the harbor were gone, and now we haven't heard anything from the police..."

"Dad... why, why wouldn't you have told us?! If they were evacuating the island, of course it had to have been serious!" shouted Yulissa.

"I know, I know! When I got that call I thought it was some kind of sick prank; the voice didn't sound anything like any police officer I know on this island! He told me he was Officer Rick when I asked, but the guy on the phone sounded nothing like Rick..."

"Alright, alright, now's not the time to worry about that. There's nothing we can do about it now," said Andrew, trying to take control of the situation. "It still wouldn't hurt to search the island and see if anyone else stayed behind. We're gonna need all the help we can get."

* * *

With Vance White now part of the group, there were now fourteen wedding guests roaming the island together - the only fourteen survivors remaining.

It wasn't much longer before they reached what was commonly known to locals as the "Harper's Plaza"; it was where all the major businesses were located, mainly the Cannery and the Harper's Island clinic. The group figured both were perfect places to search and scope out; as two of the biggest landmarks on the island, they would probably be good hiding places for anyone who may have encountered the killer, and they would also be good places to search for more weapons and, in the case of the clinic, some First Aid supplies to carry around with the group.

The fourteen survivors divided themselves in half to search the two places - Andrew, Bri, Graham, Luke, Shea, Vance, and Yulissa all went to the Cannery to gather up supplies and search for bodies or survivors. The rest of the group - Amanda, Dale, Franklin, Gail, Julie, Rachael, and Ryan - all went to the clinic to search for medical kits as well as bodies or survivors.

* * *

As expected, the Cannery was empty. Nonetheless, the seven people exploring the Cannery decided to go their separate ways to find anything they could use; Andrew, Graham, and Shea stayed in the main bar area to find any supplies they thought they would need; Bri and Yulissa searched the storage room together; Vance went into the tool shed in the backyard to find any possible weapons; and Luke searched the small garage.

In the storage room of the Cannery, Yulissa frantically searched through the various cabinets, trying to find anything useful besides alcohol. Meanwhile, Bri Bingham simply propelled herself up onto one of the counters and sat there, dangling her feet and watching Yulissa.

"You have a thing for my uncle, don't you?" asked Bri, very bluntly.

Yulissa stopped what she was doing and shot Bri a look. "...What?"

"You and my uncle Graham. You're having an affair, aren't you?"

"Honey, I don't think that's any of your business," snapped Yulissa, and she continued looking through the cabinets.

Bri shrugged. "I guess it's not... but if you do wind up with my uncle, I just gotta warn you. My family is really messed up."

Yulissa stopped again and looked back at Bri. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, my grandpa, he wasn't all there in the head. My dad's a psycho and I think he's messed my mom up pretty bad. Luke, my brother... he's got some anger management issues or something. And then there's me... I mean, I'll be the first to admit I'm a weird, weird girl."

"What are you trying to say?" snapped Yulissa impatiently.

"From what I know about him, Graham seems pretty normal. But I'm just letting you know the history of the Deeley family. I know you've known him since you were kids or whatever. But... I'd be careful if I were you."

Yulissa raised an eyebrow at Bri, seeming a bit freaked out by the conversation. She paused before asking her next question. "Did you tell any of this to Julie when she started dating Graham?"

A contorted smile appeared on Bri's face, and she shook her head. "You're way nicer than that bitch Julie Mathis."

* * *

The tool shed behind the Cannery was much bigger than Vance had expected; he knew his daughter Yulissa had never even gone inside as long as she had been manager of the bar. The shed must have been used by whoever originally built the Cannery, as carpentry tools lined the walls left and right.

Vance walked to the back of the shed where he found several large metal rods. He figured these would be perfect to use as combat weapons.

It seemed as though someone else had the same idea.

Vance had left the shed door open after he had entered, so he didn't even hear someone walk in behind him. He also didn't hear one of the metal rods being carefully removed from its hinges on the wall of the shed.

He did, however, hear the words spoken by the intruder.

"You should have left the island when you had the chance, you dumb bastard."

Vance's heart skipped several beats as he whirled around, but before he could even get a clear look at the killer, his head was smashed by the heavy metal rod, cracking his skull and killing him immediately.

The body crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The killer lay the rod gently beside the corpse, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid being detected by any of the other wedding guests. The killer walked back towards the door of the tool shed, creaked the door shut, and walked away.

* * *

At the Harper's Island clinic, which was also completely deserted, the group of seven had decided to go their own separate ways as well, each searching the various areas of the rather large medical facility to find any supplies.

Amanda, Gail, and Julie had all begun to search the lower level. There was quite a bit of awkward tension between Amanda and Julie, as neither of them had spoken to each other since their heated falling-out. In addition, each of them had their own built-up anger that was bringing them both to their boiling points; Amanda had been turned away by Andrew, while Julie had found her own fiance in bed with her friend.

"I just want you to know, Jules... you won't be getting an apology from me," said Amanda bitterly as the three women searched one of the hospital rooms.

"I'm not expecting anything from you, you bitch," sneered Julie.

"Girls, girls... what is going on here?" asked Gail. "This is not the time to be arguing."

There was a long pause, but then Gail spoke again. "But I think this is a good time for me to confess something to both of you, since I've got you both here." Gail took a deep breath, ready to lay out her dirty laundry. She told her daughters everything she had done; from the embezzlement, to framing her own brother, to having an affair with the family doctor.

"Mom... I don't know what to say...." said Julie, in a state of shock at what she was hearing. It seemed everything that people had told her about her mother, for all these years, had actually been justified. And she had been so oblivious to it all. She always thought her mother was perfect.

"I don't expect your forgiveness. But this is something that needed to be said. And with all this going on right now... who knows if this is the last time I'll get the chance to tell you..." Gail suddenly started to break down, and the three women joined together in a hug.

Gail Mathis sobbed into her two daughters' shoulders. She didn't want this moment to end.

* * *

Rachael and Franklin Bingham had gone to the third floor, which had been were all of the more powerful medical drugs and supplies were securely stored. Franklin kept his shotgun tightly in his hands, still ready to fire at any moment in spite of the clinic being completely deserted.

"Franklin... you need to relax," snapped Rachael at her husband. "For one second at least, put the damn gun down."

"What are you so edgy about? You don't want me to protect you, is that it?" said Franklin, almost in a growl.

Rachael paused; her anger was starting to build up. "Oh, I see. After 20 years of abusing me and treating me like scum, now you're deciding to protect me? That's a load of bullshit, Frank. You've been a terrible husband to me and you've been a terrible father!" yelled Rachael. She was angry, but at the same time, she felt great. This was the first time in 20 years of being married to Franklin that she was finally getting to express her true feelings to him.

Franklin stopped in his tracks, still holding the gun. He slowly turned his head to look at Rachael. "...What did you say to me?"

Rachael's face was turning bright red with anger. "You heard me. You've treated me like I was less than human, you've never been there when the kids need you... hell, you spent almost half our marriage locked up behind bars. You're a pathetic excuse for a human being."

There was a pause, but then Franklin chuckled. "Oh yeah? So why the hell have you been my wife for 20 years?!"

"Oh, trust me, I would have left you in a second if I wanted to! But in case you've forgotten, Franklin, we have two kids who are both unstable as it is! If we left each other it would have sent them both over the edge!"

"Well I don't know if you've noticed, sweetheart... but you come from an entire family of nutcases! If anything, our kids are unstable because of you!"

Franklin pointed an accusatory finger at Rachael, whose face was now contorted in anger. She began to shake and shudder, clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white.

"I have nothing more to say to you," she said in a quiet voice, tears now forming in her eyes. She couldn't bear to have her husband see her break down again, so she walked away briskly and left the room they were standing in, slamming the door on her way out.

Franklin Bingham was a bit taken aback by what had just happened; Rachael had always been quite the pushover over the years. He was the king of his home, and she had been like his loyal queen. If she did something he didn't like, he would punish her. It had become like a routine. But now, all of a sudden, she was lashing out at him, letting her true feelings be known. Franklin had assumed, for 20 years, that Rachael was perfectly content with her life.

Apparently, he was wrong.

Franklin continued to search the third floor of the clinic by himself; he knew his wife didn't want to see him now, and at the same time, he didn't really want to see her either. Part of him wanted to raise the gun and blow her brains out as she was telling him off and insulting him... but part of him still loved the woman, too. He didn't know why... but he still loved Rachael.

The ex-convict tried to forget about what had just happened, as there were bigger things going on right now. A killer was on the loose and he needed to get off this island.

The third floor of the clinic was full of small rooms and long corridors; Franklin would have never guessed the building was this big looking at it from the outside. He searched each small room individually, grabbing any medical supplies he thought would be useful. He reached the end of the main corridor, where he saw that one of the doors was wide open. The sign posted next to the door read "LABORATORY: PROCEED WITH CAUTION". Franklin chuckled slightly at the sign and, shotgun still in his grip, he entered the lab.

Chemicals and toxins were stored in vials and beakers all throughout the lab. It was all very fascinating to Franklin; he examined each one of them closely, wondering what each of them was used for. They were all labeled with crazy medical mumbo-jumbo names that Franklin barely understood, but he was still intrigued by it all. As he made his way around the room, he noticed there was one empty slot: liquid nitrogen.

As Franklin thought of why this one chemical would be missing, he heard the faint sound of clinking glass behind him. He gripped his gun tighter than ever and whirled around. He caught a quick glimpse of someone else standing in the room with him, but before he could react, something was thrown at his face... a liquid.

Suddenly, all the muscles in Franklin's face began to tighten at an extreme rate and extremely painfully; he could hear crackling as his entire face began to harden. He could no longer see and could no longer breath; his face was completely frozen solid.

For the first time since he left the Candlewick, the shotgun slipped from his hands. The killer grabbed the shotgun and forcefully slammed the butt of the gun into Franklin's frozen face, shattering it into several dark red pieces, the color of Franklin's blood.

The body crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The killer lay the gun gently beside the corpse, walked back towards the door of the lab, creaked the door shut, and walked away.


	8. Episode 7: Slosh

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE SEVEN: "SLOSH"

* * *

Amanda

Andrew

Bri

Dale

Gail

Graham

Julie

Luke

Rachael

Ryan

Shea

Yulissa

* * *

A blood-curdling scream echoed from the third floor of the Harper's Island clinic.

Rachael Bingham stood in the doorway of the laboratory, filled with medical chemicals, some of them quite dangerous. She looked at the body of her husband, Franklin, crumpled in a heap on the floor, his face completely obliterated, dark red crystals in place of where his face once was.

Within seconds, Rachael heard loud footsteps racing up the stairs and down the hallway, approaching her. All the other wedding guests that had been in the clinic - Amanda Mathis, Gail Mathis, Julie Mathis, Dale Mooney, and Ryan MacPherson (the latter two with their shotguns held tight) - had all answered to her screams. As soon as they saw what Rachael had seen, some of them couldn't help but scream as well. It was a horrific sight.

"Oh my God," said Gail, in a state of shock as she stared at the crystallized face of Franklin Bingham. She turned to Rachael. "Rachael... I'm so sorry, dear..."

But as Gail comfortingly placed her hand on Rachael, the now-widowed woman pulled away and looked furiously at Gail.

"YOU! You stay away from me!" shouted Rachael. "You're an EVIL WOMAN! Your entire family is evil! None of this would have happened if you and your fucked up family hadn't ruined my brother's life! This is YOUR FAULT, you bitch!"

Rachael pointed an accusatory finger at Gail before storming off. Gail suddenly looked frightened, her hands shaking, but each of her two daughters lovingly placed a hand on each of her shoulders. And suddenly, she felt at peace. The five wedding guests looked at the body once more.

"Who... who could have done this?" breathed Gail.

"None of us have been up here since we all came into this building," said Ryan, trying to figure everything out. "The only other person who was up here with Franklin was..." But he trailed off.

"You don't think Rachael is the one behind all this...?" asked Amanda incredulously. "That wouldn't even make sense!"

"Well then, maybe it isn't any of us," said Dale. "Unless... unless it's someone from the Cannery who sneaked over here."

The five of them exchanged looks, fear building up inside each of them. Fear of the unknown.

It was as if they were the characters in a murder mystery novel.

* * *

As Andrew McCaffrey, Graham Deeley, and Shea Allen continued to search through the Cannery to find supplies, Rachael Bingham came storming through the front door, which almost cost her her life, as a paranoid Graham immediately aimed his gun at the intruder. He put it down immediately, however, when he recognized the distraught face of his sister Rachael.

"Oh God, Rachael, you scared me half to death," Graham breathed. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Franklin..." she inhaled deeply to get the next words out. "He's dead."

Shea clasped her hands over her mouth as Andrew cursed under his breath. Suddenly, as if on cue, the other three guests in the Cannery - Bri Bingham, Luke Bingham, and Yulissa White - entered the room. Bri had a look of terror on her face; apparently she heard what her mother had just said.

"Mom...?" she asked, her voice quivering. "Dad's dead?"

Rachael walked over to Bri and wrapped her child tightly in a hug, continuing to cry. Bri didn't shed any tears, but her face sufficiently expressed all the emotion she was feeling right now. Suddenly, Bri pushed her mother away.

"Get away from me!" she shouted. A few gasps were heard as Rachael stared incredulously at her daughter.

"What...?" said Rachael.

"I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME!" Bri's voice was now a deafening screech. The emotion had finally become too overwhelming for her; tears began to stream down her little cheeks.

"Bri, what the hell is your problem?" said Luke, who wasn't expressing much emotion at all over the news of his dead father.

Bri looked at her mother, the tears in her eyes blurring her vision. She wiped a tear that was falling from her eye and sniffed loudly as she began to speak.

"Mom... did you kill him?" whispered Bri.

"BRI!" yelled Luke angrily. "I know you didn't just fucking accuse Mom of murder."

"Did you?" Bri asked again.

"Of course not, Brianne Bingham," croaked Rachael, barely able to speak through her own tears. "And I can't believe you'd think something like that."

A prolonged, awkward silence followed in the Cannery. Yulissa finally broke the silence when she noticed somebody's absence.

"Where's my dad?" she said, looking all around her, thinking maybe she hadn't spotted him enter the room. But he was nowhere to be found. That's when Yulissa's heart began to race; the fact her father was missing was not a good sign.

Yulissa suddenly stormed out of the room and out the back door towards the tool shed, and Graham immediately followed her. Yulissa swung the doors of the shed open and let out a blood-curdling scream of her own when she saw the battered body of her father, Vance White. She threw herself into Graham's arms and began to sob over the loss of her father.

Yet another murder. And now only 12 wedding guests remained.

* * *

About an hour had passed, and all 12 wedding guests had reassembled in the Cannery. Yulissa had finished crying, but she was remaining uncharacteristically silent. Bri was noticeably keeping her distance from her own mother.

Andrew began pacing around the Cannery, trying to make a decision for the group. He had unofficially become like the leader of the group, which was a position in which he felt quite comfortable.

"Alright. It's not gonna do us any good to be sitting around here in the Cannery. We've got to keep on the move," he said. "Obviously we're no safer here than we were at the Candlewick. I think it might be the best idea to go back there and really try to figure out what the hell is going on. That's where most of the murders so far have been taking place, so maybe we can find some clues there to help us solve this whole thing."

"But for all we know, Andrew, the killer could very well be sitting right in this very room," said Gail, loudly and clearly, once again voicing her disturbing theory about the killings.

Several terrified looks were shot Gail's way, but her composure remained stoic.

"Well... if that's the case," said Andrew with some hesitation, "then I guess it would be best that we all stay together. And if at any point we need to split up, I'd suggest you only be alone with someone you absolutely trust. It's the only way we can all stay safe. But for now, I think we need to head back to the Candlewick, as a group."

* * *

The journey back to the Candlewick seemed to never end for most of the wedding guests. They were all feeling paranoid about the thought of a killer being out there, one that could strike at any minute, or even worse, one that was within their own tight-knit group of twelve.

When the group had finally arrived back at the hotel, many of them felt almost at peace again. This was the place where they had all once felt safe and relaxed, having fun, enjoying their vacation, and feeling happy for the future married couple.

To the 12 surviving wedding guests, that seemed like an eternity ago.

They all gathered in the lobby of the hotel, sticking to their agreement that they would only split up with people they absolutely trusted.

Amanda Mathis sat curled up on one of the couches, with Andrew sitting beside her. He had gotten a notepad and began to write down all the events that had gone down in the last couple of days, anything that could potentially point to the killer.

Even with all of this madness going on around her, Amanda still had only one thing in mind every time she was near Andrew. She handled it the wrong way last time. This time, it would be different. She casually leaned closer to Andrew to read what he was writing on the notepad.

"Figure anything good out yet?" she asked, still hugging her legs tightly.

"Nah, it's really tough. We've never actually seen anyone get killed in front of us... at least I haven't," said Andrew, shrugging his shoulders and sighing. "It makes this whole thing a lot more difficult."

Amanda started to rub Andrew's shoulders. "It's okay, Andrew. Just relax. We've all been through a lot of stress over the past day. We're all in the same boat here. We'll figure out who's behind all this. I know we will. Just give it some time."

She spoke in the most soothing voice, which significantly calmed Andrew's mind. He leaned forward, allowing Amanda to now rub his back, and he set his notepad down on the coffee table in front of him. Suddenly, he looked back at Amanda, leaned in, and began to kiss her. The two of them kissed for what felt like hours. Amanda didn't want it to end.

All the while, her mother Gail watched from across the room, a smile on her face. Though she had never really paid much attention to Amanda as a child, Gail felt genuinely happy for her that she had finally gotten the attention of a man.

* * *

Julie Mathis had broken the group's fundamental rule; she had sneaked away by herself, without the company of someone she trusted. But this was urgent. Graham had gone to the honeymoon suite to gather up some of his things, and Yulissa, needing someone to keep her company after the loss of her father, had decided to accompany him.

That was not what Julie wanted.

Her heart was racing as she briskly walked through the corridors toward the honeymoon suite; it was combination of nerves - the fact that she could be attacked at any moment by the killer - and pure anger. It was time for her to have a talk with Graham, and what better way to do it than to have Yulissa right there in the room with them.

Julie reached the door of the suite and swung it open, startling both Graham and Yulissa, who were sitting next to each other on the giant bed. Julie's face was red with rage.

"Graham Deeley, you better start talking right now!" she screamed, tears already starting to form in her eyes.

"Jules, calm down... what--?" he began, but he was cut off by his fiance.

"I saw you two in bed last night! I SAW YOU!" she screeched as Yulissa looked at her, horrified.

Julie suddenly broke down. All the emotions she was feeling were just too much for her to handle. She fell to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably into her hands. Yulissa nudged Graham and mouthed the words 'Go talk to her'.

Graham got up and knelt down beside his fiance, the woman he loved. He gently placed a hand on her back, expecting her to pull away, but she didn't. She continued to cry.

"Jules, listen to me... I love you so much, more than anything in the world. I promise you that. Last night, I was so upset, so... confused about everything that had happened with my dad. I just needed someone to talk to. And Yulissa came to me, and she talked to me, and I was so thankful to her for that..."

Julie lifted her face, drenched with tears, from her hands. "So thankful that you fucked her?" Just saying these words caused her to break down again.

Graham looked over at Yulissa, begging her with his eyes to come help him out. Yulissa got up and also knelt beside Julie, trying to comfort her friend.

"Julie, we both just got caught up in the moment. Graham and I, we're old friends. We go way back. People do crazy things under crazy circumstances, and you can't get much crazier than this," she said with a slight chuckle, trying to add humor to the situation.

Yulissa White hated to see her friend suffering. After all, as much as she loved Graham, Yulissa was still a very close friend of Julie's. The two of them had met in college and immediately bonded. Yulissa had never had a female friend like Julie; she had always been the tomboy. Yulissa appreciated Julie's friendship more than anything in the world. But deep down, she still was in love with Graham. She always had been, and she knew those feelings would never go away.

That was why it was so hard for her to say what she said next.

"Listen, Jules. Graham loves you. He has since the moment he laid eyes on you. As one of his best friends, trust me, I know. He tells me these things. I know you're probably upset with us both right now after what you saw last night, but I promise you, girl, with all my heart, that this guy right here still wants to be with you for the rest of his life. Please don't let something like this tear you guys apart, especially now, with all this shit going on."

Julie wiped away her tears and finally looked Graham in the eye. He smiled at her, pleading for her forgiveness. And without any other words, Julie leaned in and kissed her fiance. Deep down, she still loved him, and as upset as she was with him right now, she knew that he still loved her.

Yulissa grinned at the couple as they kissed, but when she stood up and turned her back to them, she folded her arms bitterly across her chest, scowling.

She really did hate being the mediator between those two.

* * *

Back in the lobby of the Candlewick, Shea Allen sat in one of the large plush armchairs adjacent to where her good friend Gail was sitting. Shea sat slumped in her chair, her mind elsewhere.

For someone only in their mid-forties, Shea Allen had gone through a lot of pain and heartache in her life, more than any human being should ever have to deal with in a lifetime. When she had been on this island ten years ago, she had lost her sister, her father, her husband, along with several other people whom she had befriended. She was lucky enough to have escaped the island with her daughter Madison alive and well, but the stress and emotion she had experienced on that island had taken its toll on Shea.

When she had received the invitation to the wedding of Julie and Graham, Shea was immediately hesitant about returning to the island. However, after much convincing from her daughter and some time to think about it herself, Shea realized it would be best for her to honor her friendship with the Mathis family, return to the island, and take time to remember her deceased loved ones and pay her respects to everyone else who was killed during that horrible week ten years ago.

But now, history was repeating itself. It was Shea's absolute worst nightmare. There were initially 26 wedding guests, and that group had been reduced to 12 within a matter of days. And now Shea could think of nothing but the safety of her daughter. After finding Abby Mills' corpse hanging from the Tree of Woe, Shea could only fear the worst; that the killer would be after Shea and her family, to finish what had been started ten years ago. Shea was an emotional wreck right now, and with cell phone service constantly cutting out on this island, she had no way of contacting her daughter back home to make sure she was okay.

"Shea?" asked Gail, noticing the dazed look on her friend's face. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm just... so worried about Madison," Shea replied, her voice cracking, trying to fight back her tears. "I know she's not here on the island, thank God... but what if the killer is after her? They went after Abby, and they're probably going after me. What would stop them from going after Madison?"

Gail leaned toward her friend and placed a hand on Shea's leg to comfort her. "I can assure you, Shea, the killer is on this island. That's a fact. Madison is safe in Seattle. And I have complete faith that you will make it off this island safely like you did last time, and you will get to go home, back to your daughter. I promise you that."

Shea suddenly broke down in tears, and she leaned in to give Gail a hug. Compared to her last trip to the island, Shea had felt very alone this time. But she was thankful she had a friend like Gail Mathis to be there for her.

* * *

The three surviving members of the Bingham family were gathered in Rachael and Franklin's bedroom, feeling they needed some space away from everyone else. Bri was still keeping her distance from her mother; she was currently curled up in the fetal position on one of the small couches in the room. Rachael sat on the king-sized bed while Luke stood against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. The only thing that could be heard in the room were the sounds of Bri sniffling, as she was still crying over the death of her father.

"Bri..." said Rachael, trying to find the right words to say to her daughter.

"Don't talk to me," snapped Bri, wiping her eyes.

"Just let her be, Mom," grunted Luke. "I mean, she thinks you're a murderer. I guess she wants her space from you."

"Luke, will you just shut up?" said Bri, now sitting upright. "You know Mom and Dad hated each other! Who else would have killed him?!"

"Brianne Marie Bingham!" yelled Rachael, jumping to her feet. "How dare you say something like that about your mother?!"

Bri gave no response; she just curled back up and lay back down on the couch, continuing to cry. Rachael breathed heavily, her face beet red, looking almost manic after yelling at her daughter. Luke looked at his mother, subtly shook his head, and Rachael sat back down on the bed.

The room fell silent once more.

* * *

Another couple that had split off from the main group was Ryan MacPherson and Dale Mooney, sitting on the bed in their hotel room. Needless to say, it had been a stressful day for them both, though luckily, neither of them had been all that close to any of the murder victims thus far.

"It's really something, isn't it?" asked Ryan after a prolonged period of silence between the two. "When you think about it. Somebody's out there killing all these people. You gotta just stop and wonder, why would they do something like that?"

Dale uncomfortably stood up and took a few paces away from Ryan. "Can you not talk about that right now? You're creeping me out with how... fascinated you are by all this."

Ryan stood up as well and approached his boyfriend, who hesitated, but then allowed Ryan to place his hand on his shoulder. "Babe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to creep you out."

"It's just, can we please not discuss it anymore? A lot of people are dead, Ryan, but all you seem to care about is who this killer is and why they're killing people."

"Look, I'm sorry. What more do you want me to say? I won't talk about it anymore, I promise." There was a long silence as Dale's look of discomfort hadn't disappeared from his face. "Hey. Dale. Look at me."

Dale inhaled deeply and hesitated slightly, but then looked Ryan in the eyes.

"You still love me, right?" Ryan asked, giving Dale the puppy-dog-eyes look that Dale fell for every time.

And this time was no exception. Dale looked into Ryan's beautiful eyes and his heart melted as it always did. He could never stay mad at this guy. Dale loved Ryan more than anything, and he knew nothing could change that. Dale finally cracked a smile at his boyfriend, and the two began to kiss.

With all of the murder, the heartache, and the emotion going on all around them, it felt extremely comforting to both Dale and Ryan to have someone there that they loved.

* * *

The day was coming to a close. The sun was once again beginning to set on Harper's Island, and the 12 surviving wedding guests remained inside the Candlewick, hoping that tomorrow they would finally find a way to get off the island and away from the murders.

In the lobby of the Candlewick, Shea Allen had fallen asleep in her large armchair, while Amanda Mathis and Andrew McCaffrey lay sleeping on the couch, cuddled in each other's arms. Gail Mathis remained awake, looking at her daughter with a man and smiling.

Gail suddenly felt the need to use the bathroom, but was hesitant, remembering Andrew's very important rule of never wandering off alone. But Gail didn't want to disturb anyone's sleep, and she figured that a quick trip to the restroom would be harmless.

Gail quietly began to walk down the hallways to the public restrooms of the Candlewick. On her way, she thought she heard a creaking sound. Unable to control herself, she let out a yelp and whirled around, her heart pounding ferociously against her chest.

But nobody was there.

She continued to the bathroom and opened the door, entering one of the stalls and locking the door behind her.

As Gail sat on the toilet, taking care of her business, she was completely unaware of the restroom door opening again. A second person had entered the bathroom as quietly and as stealthily as possible, trying their best not to be seen, heard, or noticed.

When Gail had finished and flushed the toilet, she opened the door and her heart lurched when she saw another person standing just a few feet away from her, staring at her, leaning up against one of the sinks.

"Oh my God, you scared me!" she said, placing her hand over her chest, feeling her heart pound.

"Hello, Gail Mathis," the intruder said in a dangerously suspicious tone.

Without warning, the intruder lunged forward and forcefully placed their hand over Gail Mathis' wrinkled mouth. She screamed as loudly as she could, but her cries for help were now drastically muffled. With Gail firmly in their grasp, the intruder brought her back into the bathroom stall and aggressively slammed her head against the ceramic wall behind the toilet, temporarily knocking the rich woman unconscious.

With Gail now limp in their arms, the intruder lifted the toilet seat, which had been recently refilled with fresh water, and brought Gail's head down into the toilet bowl, submerging her face in the water.

The cold water had suddenly sprung Gail back to consciousness, who inhaled deeply before fully realizing she was underwater. The water that was unexpectedly inhaled from the toilet bowl went through Gail's windpipes, causing her to choke. All the while, the intruder kept Gail's head submerged with both hands firmly placed on the back of her skull.

Gail struggled and tried to fight the killer off, but the unwanted water now traveling through her system had already greatly weakened her. Instead, she moved her hand, desperately trying to find the handle that would flush out the water, allowing her to breathe oxygen again. The killer took notice of this, however, and forcefully kicked Gail's bony, wrinkly arm.

Gail Mathis thrashed around for a few more seconds, but before long, she ran out of strength. She could no longer breathe; water was filling up in her lungs, and she knew that this was the end. In her last moments, Gail could think of nothing else but her three daughters - Julie, Amanda, and Haley - and how, despite all the wrongdoings the rich woman had done in her life, those three girls always made her feel special, they made her feel loved.

And that was really all Gail Mathis ever wanted in life.

The body went limp in the toilet; the killer kicked Gail several times to ensure the job had been done. And then, just like that, the killer closed the door of the stall and exited the bathroom.

* * *

In the honeymoon suite, Julie and Graham had fallen asleep in each other's arms on the large, soft bed with the golden silk sheets, while Yulissa White remained awake, sitting in one of the chairs. She could do nothing but watch the couple, so happy together, sleeping so soundly together.

It tore at her heartstrings every time she saw the two of them together, and she wished so much, even now, after all these years, that Graham could be hers.

As Yulissa looked at Graham, memories of their past began flooding her mind.

* * *

_**FLASHBACK  
HARPER'S ISLAND - 20 YEARS AGO**_

_It was another picture perfect Saturday on Harper's Island. 10-year-old Yulissa White was hurriedly putting her bright pink shoes on, tying them frantically, hoping to spend as much time as she possibly could with her best friends, particularly Graham Deeley._

_Finishing the final knot on her shoe, Yulissa sprinted out of her bedroom and down the stairs. She was just about to race out the front door when a voice stopped her in her tracks._

_"Hold it right there, young lady!" the voice boomed. It was the deep voice of her father, Vance._

_Yulissa stopped, turning around to look at her father. "What is it, Daddy? I wanna go outside!" she moaned, thinking she would get her way if she spoke in the whiniest tone possible._

_Vance White stood with his arms across his chest, trying to look firm, but looking into his daughter's pouting face, all he could do was smile._

_"Just be back here before dark, okay missy?" he said with a chuckle, and Yulissa's expression once again turned to sheer excitement as she bolted out the door._

_Playing in the yard just outside of her house were Andrew McCaffrey and Graham Deeley, both of whom were around her age, playing with the older Henry Dunn, who acted as sort of the "leader" of their little group of friends._

_"Sorry guys! I got out here as fast as I could!" panted Yulissa, though she was mostly speaking to Graham, the boy whom she had a crush on since she learned how to walk._

_"No problem, Yulie! We're playing four square," said Graham with a smile. "Wanna be in the fourth square?"_

_"Hey, come on, Graham, that's no fair. We already had a game going," said Henry firmly, but Graham shot him a look._

_"Let her be in the fourth square, Henry," he muttered under his breath._

_Sighing, Henry stepped out of his place in the fourth square, allowing Yulissa to enter, and a smiling Graham passed her the ball. Yulissa returned the smile; she had a hunch that her feelings for Graham were mutual._

_The game went on for hours, and the four kids were having the time of their lives until the sun began to go down. Andrew's mother, Jane McCaffrey, suddenly appeared in the yard, with the tiny 2-year-old Mikey McCaffrey in her arms, sucking on his thumb._

_"Andrew, time for dinner!" she called out to her son. Andrew kicked the dirt in frustration, said his goodbyes, and went home with his mother._

_Before long, Henry was called back inside as well, leaving Yulissa and Graham alone in the yard. Graham glanced at his wristwatch and looked up at Yulissa._

_"Well, uh... it's getting late. I better be going back home too," he said, sounding bummed. There was a silence between the two until Graham finally let out the question he had been meaning to ask. "Umm, do you... do you wanna come to my house for dinner?"_

_For a 10-year-old, a crush asking you over to their house for dinner was almost as good as a marriage proposal. Yulissa beamed at Graham._

_"Sure!" she bellowed, a smile spreading across her face._

_"It's okay with your Dad?"_

_"Oh, it'll be fine," scoffed Yulissa; she knew very well that her Dad would be upset with her for not telling him where she was, but for now, that didn't matter to her. She wanted to cherish every second she had with Graham._

_The two of them walked back to Graham's house as the sun began to set. Yulissa tried several times on the way to grab hold of Graham's hand, but she didn't have the courage to go through with it. Before she knew it, the two had arrived at the Deeley household. Graham's father, Bronson, was in the kitchen boiling some pasta, while his older sister, 19-year-old Rachael, was sitting in the living room, reading a large murder mystery novel with nothing but a dim lamp providing her light. Rachael was dressed all in black, and even her once-blonde hair had been dyed a jet black. Having never seen Rachael since she had left home for college a few months ago, Yulissa glanced into the living room and gave a confused look, which Graham immediately noticed._

_"Yeah, Rachael's going through kind of a weird phase right now. She's into a lot of dark stuff... I dunno," said Graham, brushing the subject off with a simple shrug. The two continued on into the kitchen, and Bronson beamed at the two kids._

_"Oh! Yulissa! So good to see you!" he said cheerily._

_"Dad, is it alright if Yulie stays for dinner?" asked Graham._

_"Of course! Plenty of pasta to go around!" Bronson replied with a hearty laugh._

_When dinner was ready, Rachael joined the group in the dinner, eating her food slowly and saying hardly anything. Yulissa kept giving her uncomfortable glances, but tried not to pay her much attention. All that mattered to her now was that she was in Graham's house, eating dinner with his family. As she ate her pasta, she imagined herself 20 years from now, sitting with this same family at the dinner table, this time with Graham as her husband. She had dreamed for so many years of being the future Mrs. Deeley, and now, she began to believe that her dream might someday come true._

_When dinner was over, Graham brought Yulissa up to his bedroom, and the two sat on his bed and talked for hours._

_And then, Yulissa's biggest wish had come true. A few seconds of silence had passed between the two, and Graham took the opportunity to lean in and kiss Yulissa. At first, it was a light peck on the lips. But then, Yulissa went in for a second, which lasted quite a bit longer. The two young kids sat on the bed kissing._

_And it was by far the happiest moment of Yulissa's life._

* * *

Yulissa sat in the lumpy, uncomfortable chair in the honeymoon suite of the Candlewick Inn, watching now as Graham cuddled another woman, Julie Mathis, the woman whom he had met and fallen in love with. It was Yulissa's worst nightmare. Her greatest dream had come crashing down on her. She knew now that she would never be sitting at that dinner table as Mrs. Graham Deeley. She knew that she wouldn't be together with Graham forever. Another woman had entered his life.

Suddenly, Yulissa closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep. But as she did so, a single tear escaped from beneath her eyelid and slid down her cheek.

* * *

The midnight hour was approaching, and most of the wedding guests had fallen asleep after a long, rough day.

In the Bingham bedroom, Rachael sat in one of the chairs, reading another murder mystery novel, while Luke lay on the bed, sound asleep and snoring. Bri decided she needed to relax before going to bed, so she opted to take a bath in the luxurious bathroom of the hotel room.

Bri sat naked in the tub, her blonde hair submerged in the water, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. So many thoughts were swimming through her mind. She thought of her father. She thought of Shea. She thought of all the bad feelings she had been getting before coming to this island, about disaster that was going to strike. Those feelings had all been so clear to her; she only wished she had been more firm with her family, warned them more thoroughly, so all of this could have been prevented.

And now, she was starting to have some very disturbing feelings. Thoughts about her own family. As a member of the Deeley family, she knew that her relatives had quite the history of strange behavior. Even Bri could admit that she was not your average 13-year-old. But earlier that day she had accused her own mother of killing her father. Was that wild accusation made just out of anger, out of grief for the loss of her father, out of bitterness over how terrible Rachael and Franklin had been as parents?

Or was there something more to it than that?

Out in the bedroom, Rachael finished the chapter in her book, placed a bookmark between the pages, and set it on the nightstand beside her. She took off her glasses and looked over at her sleeping son. Rachael, too, was in deep thought. She needed to have a talk with Bri.

Quietly, Rachael got to her feet and approached the bathroom. She knocked gently on the door. "Bri? Can I come in?"

"I'm taking a bath, Mom," snapped Bri.

"I know, honey, but I feel like we really need to talk."

When Bri didn't respond, Rachael took that as permission to enter. The recently widowed housewife approached the large tub and sat down on the edge, a mere inches away from her daughter. Tears were already starting to form in Rachael's eyes as she looked at her daughter laying in the water.

"What is it, Mom?" asked Bri, sounding uninterested.

"Bri... in spite of everything you might think... I loved your father. I did, I loved him. Our relationship had its ups and downs, but we still managed to stay together for 20 years, and that's not such a common thing these days, for a marriage to last that long."

"You don't have to love someone even if you're married to them," Bri pointed out bluntly.

Rachael inhaled deeply; it was clear she wasn't getting her point across. "Bri, listen to me. I loved your father. And I know you loved him too. He was a great guy. But he had his faults."

Bri scoffed slightly, but Rachael continued.

"I mean, he was a criminal, for one thing. He was abusive, he was loud, he was angry." Rachael inhaled deeply again, wiping away another tear from her eye and now starting to roll up her sleeves. "But I think his biggest fault of all.... was trusting me."

Bri lifted her head slightly out of the bathwater as she looked over at her mother.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, her heart starting to beat faster.

Rachael sniffed and smiled sadly at her daughter. "I was the one who killed him, Bri."

Bri's eyes widened in total terror. Her initial reaction was to jump up and get out of the tub, but Rachael forcefully placed a hand on Bri's shoulder, keeping her in the water.

"Mom... no... no..." said Bri, panicking, trying to get out.

Rachael continued to cry as she looked her terrified daughter in the eyes.

"Bri... I love you, honey... I'm so sorry...."

And then, with both of her hands, Rachael Bingham pressed down on Bri's shoulders, exerting enough force to completely submerge her in the water. Bri panicked, trying to get out, splashing water all over the place, but Rachael did not stop. She was now bending over the bathtub, standing on her feet, keeping her daughter under the water with as much force as she could muster. All the while, Rachael cried as she watched her daughter drown.

Bri Bingham clawed at her mother's arms, trying anything she could to break free, but Rachael did not let go. Before long, Bri grew weak and could no longer breathe. Everything around her began to go hazy. The last thought in her mind was that her instincts had been right. Her mother was a murderer. Her mother was responsible for all the people dying on Harper's Island. And with that one final thought, the young Bri Bingham had died.

Rachael was now sobbing uncontrollably. Her daughter was dead, but it had to be done. She had lost her daughter's trust. Just like she had lost her husband's trust. They needed to go. But as a mother, it still pained her to lose her daughter, whom she had loved ever since she had given birth to her.

Rachael Bingham gently lifted Bri out of the bathwater, her body completely limp and lifeless now, and she kissed her daughter's wet forehead. With one final sob, Rachael set the body back into the water, left the bathroom, locked the door, and placed the key deep within her purse.

The Harper's Island killer wiped the final tears from her eyes, sat back in her chair, picked up her murder mystery novel, and continued reading where she had left off.

There were still quite a few people left. And they all needed to go.


	9. Episode 8: Zap

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE EIGHT: "ZAP"

* * *

Amanda

Andrew

Dale

Graham

Julie

Luke

Rachael

Ryan

Shea

Yulissa

* * *

It was the dead of night, approaching 5AM, and nearly everyone inside the Candlewick Inn was fast asleep, each of them getting some much-needed rest after the very stressful previous day.

One person, however, was wide awake.

Luke Bingham sat upright, cross-legged, on the large bed in his parents' hotel room. His heart was racing; he had been sitting up now for nearly five hours now, unable to get any sleep. And all this time, Luke's gaze remained fixated on his mother, Rachael Bingham, sitting in her armchair, her book on her lap, her head cocked to the side, breathing heavily as she slept.

Luke's mother had just killed his younger sister, Bri Bingham. He had seen the whole thing.

As he continued to stare at his mother, he finally realized that he needed to do something. He needed to take action. Quietly, hoping not to wake his mother, Luke stood up and exited the room; the door made a creaking sound as he slowly closed it, causing his heart to pound heavier, but Rachael did not stir.

Luke briskly walked down the corridors to the main lobby, where he knew mostly everyone else was gathered.

He needed to tell them.

* * *

Amanda Mathis, Andrew McCaffrey, Shea Allen, Dale Mooney, and Ryan MacPherson were all fast asleep in the large lobby of the Candlewick Inn. Amanda and Andrew were cuddled up on one of the sofas, Dale was sleeping soundly in Ryan's lap on one of the large plush armchairs, and Shea Allen was sitting upright, fast asleep, propping her head up with her fist as her elbow rested against a nearby table.

But the peaceful scene was suddenly disturbed by the dramatic entrance of Luke Bingham.

"Guys! Wake up! Everybody wake up!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

All five wedding guests in the lobby immediately woke up, startled and frightened by the sudden noise.

"What? What is it?!" Shea gasped, still half-asleep.

"We need to get the fuck outta here! NOW!" screamed Luke, looking terrified and breathing heavily.

"What happened?!" shouted Amanda, starting to look terrified herself and jumping to her feet. She immediately noticed the absence of her mother and sister, among others.

"It's my little sister, Bri..." panted Luke, his voice cracking oddly, his mouth quivering. "She's dead."

Several loud gasps were heard, and Shea's eyes widened in terror as she clasped her hands over her mouth.

"That's not even the worst part, you guys," continued Luke, his voice now shaking. "My mom killed her."

"What?!" exclaimed Ryan, his deep, loud voice practically vibrating the room.

Shea Allen suddenly felt as though she had been punched in the stomach, twice. First, the news of the death of a young girl, one whom she had befriended, Bri Bingham. It was a terrible blow. But was perhaps even worse than that... was the news that Rachael Bingham - the woman whom Shea had become closest with during this past week, the one whom she had actually grown to trust the most, even over the Mathis family that she had known for years - was responsible for Bri's death. Rachael had killed her own daughter. And it was clear now that Rachael was the one behind all of the deaths that had recently plagued the island.

The room fell silent for several seconds, the shocking news not having sunk in to everyone yet. Amanda's heart suddenly began to pound, and she broke the silence.

"My mother! And my sister! Where are they? Are they dead, too?!" she asked Luke, hardly able to get the final words out.

"I don't know," said Luke quickly. "But we all need to get out of here, now. Before she wakes up. She's gonna come after the rest of us."

"No! I can't leave here without knowing my family is safe!" demanded Amanda, and she stormed out of the room.

"Amanda, wait!" Andrew shouted, but she did not turn back. Instead, Andrew began to follow her while the rest of the guests remained in the lobby.

"Guys, I'm serious," said Luke in a panicked voice. "We can't wait around for them. I can't be in here another second!"

"Well where do you suggest we go?" asked Dale, trying to keep as calm as possible, though his heart, too, was racing at triple speed.

"Anywhere but here. M-maybe we can all head to the police station... they-they've got to have one of those radios, r-right? Those things where you can, like, call for help?" stuttered Luke.

Shea nodded, finally speaking up. "The sheriff's office has one. It was broken last time I was here, but... it must have been replaced by now."

"Perfect. Let's go there and get someone out here to come save us," said Luke as he started walking toward the front door of the Candlewick.

"Hold up, buddy," said Ryan firmly, which successfully stopped Luke in his tracks. "We're not going anywhere without everyone else. We're not splitting up now, after all this." Luke sighed, and he returned to the lobby, collapsing into one of the chairs and rubbing his forehead.

In spite of everything that was going on, Dale couldn't help but smile at the courage and the nobility of his boyfriend.

* * *

Amanda Mathis, now accompanied by Andrew, walked through the hallways of the Candlewick, looking in any places where her family could be. She looked in Gail's bedroom but found it to be completely deserted, but was relieved to find three of the four missing persons - Graham, Julie, and Yulissa - fast asleep in the honeymoon suite. The sound of her forcefully entering the room was enough to wake all three of them up.

"Oh my God! Thank God you guys are alive!" cried Amanda, almost breaking down into tears.

"Amanda! What's going on?" asked Julie, getting nervous when she saw the looks on Amanda and Andrew's faces.

"We need to get out of here, Julie," Amanda replied. She took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Rachael is the one responsible for all this."

Graham lifted his eyebrows, not seeming to believe what he had heard at first. "Wh-what?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

"I'm serious, Graham," said Amanda sympathetically. "Luke just came to tell us that he saw Rachael kill his little sister, Bri."

Graham's look of disbelief suddenly turned to complete horror. "No... no..."

"I'm so sorry, Graham, but now's really not the time to talk about this. Rachael's still here in the building, and I can't find Mom."

"What?" snapped Julie.

Amanda could no longer hold in her tears. "Julie, I can't help but feel like Mom is dead." She began to sob into her hands, and Andrew embraced her in a hug.

"Well we need to find her!" shouted Julie, jumping to her feet and practically running out of the room. Not having much of a choice, the other four wedding guests in the honeymoon suite followed her out into the hallway.

The group of five searched high and low throughout the building, until finally they reached the public restroom on the first floor. Julie saw a pool of deep red blood on the floor in one of the bathroom stalls, and she immediately feared the worst. She approached the stall and screamed bloody murder when she saw what was inside. It was the body of Gail Mathis, her head submerged in the toilet bowl and her limbs completely limp and lifeless.

The two surviving Mathis women sobbed in each other's arms for what felt like hours over the loss of their mother. Graham suddenly felt faint, dazed, disoriented; all of these terrible events were occurring so close to one another that it was almost becoming too much for him to handle. The death of his father, his niece, and his fiance's mother... all of that coupled with the fact that his sister had been revealed to be a murderer had Graham thinking that this had to be some kind of horrible nightmare.

And he kept praying every second that the nightmare would end.

* * *

It was well past 6AM now; the sky outside was starting to brighten up, marking the start of a new day. Luke, Shea, Ryan, and Dale remained in the Candlewick lobby, keeping relatively quiet, all of them very deep in thought. Luke was becoming very impatient, as none of the other wedding guests had shown up yet.

His patience finally cracking, Luke looked at his watch and got to his feet. "Alright, guys. It's been long enough. My mom could wake up at any second, and I sure as hell don't want to be here when she does."

Before anyone else could respond, however, the rest of the guests - Amanda, Andrew, Julie, Graham, and Yulissa - finally made their entrance. And judging by the looks on all of their faces, they certainly didn't have any good news.

"My mom's dead," sniffed Julie, wiping a tear from her eye.

"No..." whispered Shea, closing her eyes. She, too, began to wish this was all a bad dream. But she had been through this kind of pain before, and she knew all too well that this pain was real.

"Okay, yeah, I've heard enough," said Luke, throwing his arms up. "We're getting the hell outta here. We're going to the police station and we're calling for help. C'mon, guys. Grab your guns, let's go."

Andrew, Graham, Ryan, and Dale each grabbed their shotguns that they had all set against one of the walls of the lobby, and with that, the group of nine marched out of the Candlewick.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rachael Bingham woke up from her snooze. Still a bit dazed, she looked around the room; it took her a few seconds to notice that her son had gone. But it wasn't too long afterward that she noticed something else. She immediately smiled.

Luke had left his own shotgun sitting on the dresser.

* * *

Though it was still dark, the sun was slowly beginning to rise, providing the nine survivors with just enough light to traverse the thick forests of Harper's Island.

There was very little conversation among the group; things had gotten much more intense, much more scary, and much more real for them in just the past few hours. Sure, people had been dying left and right, some of them before the survivors' very eyes, but now that they had a face to put to all these terrible murders, someone they had all known and trusted... it made things so much more unsettling for all of them.

Shea Allen couldn't stop thinking about Bri Bingham and how revolting it was to think that she was killed at the hands of her own mother. She thought of Madison, and she missed her and worried about her now more than ever before. With Bri and Gail dead and Rachael now out to kill her, Shea was now truly alone on this island.

It was now, when she truly felt alone, that the ghosts of Harper's Island began to reveal themselves.

"Shea... stay strong," echoed the voice of Trish Wellington's spirit, sitting on a nearby tree branch, her legs dangling off the edge, looking down at Shea as she walked by.

"No matter what happens, you'll always have us to watch over you," said the calm, soothing voice of Shea's father, Thomas, leaning against a thick tree trunk, a mere feet away from her as she passed.

"I believe in you, Shea. I know you can pull through this," said the ghost of Abby Mills, smiling at Shea.

"Shea, you've been a wonderful friend, and I know you're a wonderful mother. Stay strong and do this for Madison!" said the spirit of Gail Mathis, leaning against a tree and smiling sweetly at Shea as she walked by.

"Thank you so much for being my friend, Shea. I'm glad you were the one person on this island I could trust. You were like the mom I never had," came the voice of the young Bri Bingham, standing on a tree limb, smiling and waving at Shea.

Shea Allen inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. She knew that none of these six ghosts were really there. But regardless, their presence provided her with an overwhelming calmness. She suddenly felt at ease, even through all this pain and suffering. As she continued walking, she thought of those spirits here on the island that were counting on her to end the murder and the suffering once and for all on Harper's Island.

And as much as she desperately longed to survive this horror and return home safely to her daughter Madison, the comfort that she felt from these six spirits gave her a huge amount of strength. She no longer feared the worst, she no longer feared death.

Shea Allen was now completely fearless.

* * *

More than an hour after they began their trek through the island, the group of nine survivors arrived at the police station. They were horrified to find that the three police officers that must have been duty at the time, including the new Harper's Island sheriff, were laying dead in their own puddles of blood on the floor.

"Oh my God," muttered Julie. "How the hell did Rachael do all of this?"

Ignoring the comment, Luke went directly to the radio sitting on the sheriff's desk, but immediately noticed it had been smashed.

"Oh fuck!" he shouted, pounding his fist on the radio, doing further damage to the already unusable machine.

"Luke, calm down," Graham said to his nephew, trying to keep at least a little bit of order within the group. After all, they were all each other had right now.

"There's a boathouse," said Shea, suddenly remembering her first experience on Harper's Island very vividly. "A boathouse with a radio in it."

"Do you know where it is?" asked Dale.

"Yeah... yeah, I do," said Shea, hesitant at first, but it was like a crystal clear image in her mind. She knew exactly where she needed to go. Perhaps it was the help of all the spirits of the island... but whatever it was, she knew that they needed to get to the boathouse, use the radio, call for help, and leave this island once and for all.

The group of nine began to file out of the police station; Luke hesitated, lingering near the broken radio for a few seconds, snarling at it, but eventually he brought up the rear of the group as they left the office, following Shea to the boathouse that would lead them to safety.

* * *

As the group made its way to the boathouse located clear on the other side of the island, there was once again little to no conversation amongst the survivors. They were all on their guard, especially those carrying the shotguns; even though they now knew who they were running from, Rachael Bingham had proven that she was capable of quite a bit if she had managed to kill all of those people right under everyone's noses.

The nine surviving wedding guests were mostly only accompanied by their own thoughts. Yulissa White thought of Graham and how she had once again let him slip through the cracks and fall into the arms of Julie Mathis. As much as she hated the thought of Graham being with another woman, Yulissa knew she couldn't betray her friend, Julie, especially at a time like this.

Meanwhile, Julie and her sister, Amanda, were still grieving over the loss of their mother. It had been a rough week for them both, having lost their sister Haley and now their very own mother. And yet, they both felt oddly comforted by the male companions that they had latched themselves onto.

Julie had forgiven Graham for what she had seen between him and Yulissa. She felt that life was too short to hold grudges, and deep down, she still loved Graham and believe that he still loved her as well.

Amanda, on the other hand, knew hardly anything about her knew beau, Andrew McCaffrey, but after being single all her life and never having a male shoulder to lean on, Amanda couldn't have asked for anything better, especially in this terrible time.

But perhaps the person most consumed by their own thoughts was Graham Deeley. He could think of nothing else right now but his sister, the girl he grew up with, the girl who had always been rather distant, but never came across as being homicidal in any way.

But the more Graham began to think about it, the more memories came flooding back to him of his childhood and of Rachael.

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**HARPER'S ISLAND - 19 YEARS AGO**_

_"Graham! Come on down for dinner, buddy!" called Bronson Deeley from downstairs._

_A young, 11-year-old Graham Deeley sat cross-legged on his bedroom floor, building a giant tower out of Lego's. He pouted slightly, knowing he would have to leave his masterpiece for an hour or so, but then lit back up when he remembered fried chicken was on the menu tonight: his favorite meal._

_Graham excitedly ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over his own feet, but came to a screeching halt as soon as he entered the kitchen. His 19-year-old sister, Rachael, was accompanied by an older-looking guy, around 25 or 26 years old, at least. He wore a jet black leather jacket and his hair was shoulder-length and unkempt. Protruding from one of the pockets in his torn denim jeans was clearly the handle of a knife. Graham scrunched his nose at the very sight of the guy, which Bronson immediately noticed._

_"Oh, son, this is Rachael's new friend. His name is, uh... Jake, I believe you said it was?" asked Bronson politely, though the tone of his voice showed that he wasn't overly enthused about Rachael's new boyfriend either._

_The new guy Jake didn't respond to the question. He just stared at young Graham and grinned rather wickedly as Rachael placed the plates and silverware on the dinner table, her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders._

_"Dad, I'm not hungry anymore," said Graham as he continued to snarl at Jake. "Can I eat later after this guy leaves?"_

_Rachael suddenly slammed the plate she was currently holding onto the dinner table. "Graham!" she shouted, sounding highly insulted._

_"It's okay, Graham. You can go back upstairs. I'll save you a nice big drumstick for later tonight, okay buddy?" said Bronson with a smile and a wink to his son, and Graham bolted back out of the room._

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**HARPER'S ISLAND - 15 YEARS AGO**_

_15-year-old Graham sat on his bed with the baseball-themed comforter, his head resting against the wall. Andrew and Mikey McCaffrey, the latter of whom was only 7 years old, sat on the floor, playing a game of cards._

_"So what's your sister been up to these days?" Andrew asked Graham nonchalantly, trying to make conversation._

_"Oh, she got married a while ago, to some creep named Franklin," replied Graham._

_"She's married already?" squeaked Mikey as he set down one of his cards._

_"Yeah, she got married when she was only 20. Kinda weird, though. I'd never even heard of this Franklin guy until I found out she randomly married him."_

_"I thought she and Henry had a thing," said Andrew._

_Henry Dunn had been closer in age to Rachael than he was to Graham and Andrew, but he had become good friends with them during his time on Harper's Island. It wasn't until he left the island for college - the very same college Rachael had attended - that he truly began to bond with Rachael, and before long, the two began seeing each other. Graham had never quite approved of the romance; he hated the thought of having Henry be his possible future brother-in-law. But once he found out that not only were Rachael and Henry no longer an item, but that Rachael had now married some strange, unknown man, Graham almost wished his sister and his friend had stayed together._

_"Yeah, well... I guess that fizzled out pretty quick," mumbled Graham._

_"Is she still into all that dark stuff?" asked Mikey bluntly._

_"I think it was just a phase," Graham replied quickly, shrugging it off as if it was nothing important._

_Little did the young teenage Graham Deeley know, however, that that "phase" would last a lifetime, and that his mysterious sister would one day become a killer._

* * *

Chills ran down Graham's spine as he remembered his past, the things about his sister that, at the time, he had simply pushed aside and disregarded as being unimportant. He had no idea at the time that Rachael was a truly troubled person, hiding something deep within.

But now it was all clear as day to him.

* * *

Rachael Bingham had set off from the Candlewick Inn alone, wielding the large shotgun in her hands, purely out for blood.

Rachael was indeed a very disturbed and troubled human being. She was able to hide it very well under a mask of politeness, kindness, and warmth towards others. But in reality, she was someone who was simply broken and emotionally disheveled. The Deeley family had always had its history of mental issues; Rachael's own father, Bronson, had suffered through some insanity throughout his lifetime, which led to a shoddy childhood for Rachael and Graham. So because they were raised by the same man and belonged to the same family, one would think that Graham would have turned out similarly to his sister.

But there was one significant different between the two siblings.

Friendship.

Graham Deeley was a lucky enough boy to grow up with people his own age, people who truly cared about him, made him feel loved when he might not have always gotten that kind of love from home. Rachael, on the other hand, was always a very lonely girl. She grew up feeling trapped in her own home, with nobody else to turn to, and that feeling of loneliness began to chip away slowly at her own sanity.

With that kind of mindset, it was only a matter of time before Rachael would lash out at other people, those who had always had it better than her, those who felt loved and felt like they belonged to a close-knit family. Rachael had never had that as a kid. And she felt outraged knowing that other people did.

Time began to pass, Rachael grew older, and she was finally able to break free when it was time for her to attend college. But the damage had already been done. She did her best to rebel, to let out her feelings in other ways. She dated some dangerous men - one of which was the future Harper's Island killer himself, Henry Dunn - and she explored her dark side: everything from how she dressed to what kind of books she read.

But nothing she did made her feel any better.

During her college years, she met and fell in love with Franklin Bingham, an older man who had already been to jail once for armed robbery. Needless to say, her father didn't approve of the relationship, but Rachael felt attracted to him. He was rebellious, just like she had been, and she felt that maybe he would help her break loose.

Instead, it did just the opposite.

Just as Rachael had felt trapped within her own home as a kid, she now began to feel trapped within her own marriage. Franklin was an abusive husband, to say the least, and it only broke Rachael down more than she had been before. And within just two years of the couple's marriage, Rachael became pregnant with Luke, their first child. And that was when she truly began to feel trapped.

In spite of her childhood being so loveless and so lonely, Rachael changed when she began to have children. As soon as she held baby Luke in her arms, her heart melted. She felt an instant connection with him. And she knew instantly that leaving her husband now would only cause her children to feel the same kind of misery she felt throughout childhood.

But the abusive relationship between Rachael and Franklin still resulted in a shaky childhood for Luke and Bri. They absolutely hated being in their own home, and each would rebel in their own ways, similar to what Rachael had done.

Rachael Bingham trekked through the forests of the island, all alone, a manic expression on her face. It was the thought of this wedding between her brother - whom had turned out so much happier than she had - and Julie Mathis, the rich snob, who had the dream childhood, where she was showered with everything she could ever ask for and doted upon by her family. It was everything Rachael never had. And she envied them all so much. Everyone at this wedding... they all had everything she had always wanted.

And Rachael knew she needed to get her revenge, to release her built up anger.

Murder was the only way she knew how to do that.

* * *

The group of nine survivors had been traversing the island in search for the boathouse for well over an hour now; Shea Allen began to doubt that she remembered where it was, but she didn't give up hope. She felt that the spirits of her fallen loved ones would give her the strength to lead herself and her surviving friends to safety.

She began to have doubts again, however, when the group reached a giant metal fence, standing at least 20 feet tall and stretching as far as the eye could see across the wide open field it was placed in. There were several large red signs placed on the fence at various intervals with the words "HIGH VOLTAGE" boldly written on them. Nearby was a small shack, which must have contained the controls for the fence. Shea looked baffled; she had no recollection of this fence at all.

"Where the hell did this come from...?" said Yulissa; it appeared that even she, as a Harper's Island local, had no idea this fence existed.

"They must've put this fence up after the last set of murders," said Andrew. "I know they jacked up the security on this island after all that happened."

"Well, are you sure this is the way to the boathouse?" Amanda asked Shea.

"I... I can't remember for sure," said Shea. "There might be another way."

"Well, this island's not that big. We've been walking for a while, so we must be getting close to it, at least," said Andrew. "I think it might be a good idea for us to split up anyway; we don't want to all be together if Rachael catches up with us."

"So you think half of us should stay behind and try to climb this thing?" asked Ryan, looking up at the giant fence towering over the wedding guests.

"As long as the electricity's turned off, you'll be fine," assured Andrew. "Just try to move fast. You don't want to risk Rachael catching up to you guys."

After some deliberation, Amanda, Dale, Ryan, and Shea opted to stay at the fence, while the rest of the wedding guests - Andrew, Graham, Julie, Luke, and Yulissa - all decided to find another way to the boathouse.

"Are we sure the electricity is off?" asked Amanda, sounding apprehensive about climbing the fence.

Finding a tree branch nearby, Ryan picked it up and slowly approached the fence, gently touching the tip of the branch to the metal. When nothing happened, he casually tossed the branch aside and turned back to the look at the group.

"It's all good. Ladies first," he said with a smile, stepping aside to allow Amanda and Shea to start climbing.

Amanda began climbing first, and Shea closely followed behind. Both women held their breath nearly the entire time, hoping and praying that a gust of wind wouldn't send them flying off the fence, or that, by some chance, the electricity wouldn't turn on while they were on it.

After slowly and cautiously making their way over the top of the fence, trying not to look down, Amanda and Shea began to quickly descend the fence, anxious now to get back on solid ground. Once both of their feet were planted safely on the ground, Ryan looked at his boyfriend.

"Alright Dale, go ahead. I'll take your gun for you," he said, grinning at Dale, who handed Ryan his shotgun.

"Aren't you coming too?" Dale asked, his voice shaking a bit.

"I'll stay behind, make sure you get over okay. And I've got my shotgun; I'll fend off any unwanted visitors," Ryan said with a wink.

Dale sighed and gave Ryan a kiss on the lips before beginning his ascent. Having a big fear of heights, Dale moved much more slowly than the women, who were anxiously watching from the other side of the fence. He finally reached the top of the fence, looked down, and began to panic.

"Oh my God..." he yelped, his heart beginning to pound in his chest, and he clung to the fence as tightly as possible.

"Come on, Dale! You've got this!" encouraged Amanda.

"Dale, baby, you can do it! Don't look down!" called Ryan from the ground.

The words of encouragement were enough for Dale to continue on. He took a deep breath, his heart still thumping, and began to slowly climb down. And in spite of his intense acrophobia, the encouragement of his boyfriend, the love of his life, was surely enough for him to face his fear.

Dale finally made it down and jumped off the fence, planting his feet firmly on the ground, and Amanda gave him a hug.

Ryan was the last to go, and it was especially difficult for him due to the fact he was carrying two shotguns - both his and Dale's. But Ryan was big, he was tough, and he was strong. This wouldn't be too difficult for him to handle.

"Come on, baby," said Dale, tensing up as he watched his boyfriend very slowly ascend the fence, trying very carefully not to drop either of the guns or cause either of them to go off.

And suddenly, interrupting the somewhat calm and uneventful scene, Dale, Amanda, and Shea heard some rustling coming from the other side of the fence.

And then, from the woods, Rachael Bingham emerged with her shotgun in her hands and a wicked grin on her face.

Amanda screamed, Shea's eyes bulged in horror, and Dale ran closer to the fence, calling up to Ryan.

"Ryan! She's here! HURRY UP!" he shouted.

Ryan, who had not yet crossed over the top of the fence, looked over his shoulder and down at the ground. He saw Rachael looking up at him with an insane expression.

"Oh shit," he muttered, now starting to panic. He didn't know what to do; he knew the shotguns he was holding were significantly slowing him down. He considered throwing them over the top of the fence to the other side, but he didn't want to risk having one of them go off and shooting one of his friends on the other side. He considered throwing them down toward Rachael, but if they didn't go off, he didn't want to give her any more weapons than she currently had. And he was simply too high up and didn't have enough balance to shoot her from up there.

"Ryan! HURRY!!" Dale screamed when he noticed his boyfriend wasn't moving.

From the ground, Rachael aimed her shotgun at Ryan, who was now starting to slowly make his way over the top of the fence. But then she lowered the gun when she caught a glimpse of the shack nearby.

She had a better idea.

Rachael ran to the shack. She tried to open the door, but it was locked shut. So she took a few steps backward, aimed her gun, and blew the doorknob off, allowing her easy entrance into the control cabin. Meanwhile, Dale was watching what she was doing, and knew instantly what she had in mind.

"Oh my God... no..." he said. He then turned back to face Amanda and Shea. "Girls, go! Go ahead! Go to the boathouse! We'll catch up! GO!"

The women hesitated, but then without a word, they turned and ran out of the field, disappearing into the forest. As much as they hated to leave Dale and Ryan, they knew that they needed to keep safe, and Shea was certain that they were close to the boathouse where they would finally reach safety.

"RYAN! She's going into the control cabin! YOU NEED TO HURRY!" Dale screamed, tears starting to fill his eyes as he looked up at his boyfriend slowly trying to climb down the fence with the two shotguns in hand.

But it was too late.

In the control cabin, Rachael slammed the large red button with her palm, which immediately sent electricity surging through the high-voltage fence.

And Ryan MacPherson felt the effects immediately.

A loud "zap" was clearly heard as the fence electrocuted Ryan, and the force of the shock sent him flying backwards, causing him to fall nearly 15 feet to the ground. And all the while, Dale could do nothing but watch as his boyfriend went flying over his head and come crashing to the ground a few feet away from him.

The moment seemed to go in slow motion for Dale. It took him a few seconds to even comprehend what had happened, but when he saw Ryan laying motionless on the ground, it suddenly hit him like a sack of bricks. Dale let out a heart-wrenching scream as he sprinted to his boyfriend and collapsed to his knees beside him.

"Ryan! Ryan! RYAN!" he screamed, shaking his boyfriend, praying that he would somehow wake up, that he would show signs of life, that he would get to his feet, be perfectly fine, and the two could continue their search for the boathouse.

But Ryan did not stir.

The tears came flowing out of Dale's eyes like two tiny faucets. He hugged Ryan's lifeless body, which had been slightly charred from the powerful electric shock, and he sobbed into Ryan's shoulder. He couldn't believe that he was gone. Ryan, the man he had fallen in love with, the man he knew he would be with for the rest of his life... he couldn't be dead.

"No... no...." were the only words that Dale could get out as he continued to sob.

And as this whole scene was playing out, Rachael Bingham walked out of the control cabin, a satisfied smirk on her face, and approached the fence, looking through it to watch as Dale cried over his dead boyfriend.

Dale suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, golden ring which glistened in the sunlight. The ring he had intended on giving Ryan this week, at the wedding reception. He had planned the entire moment out. He had written out a romantic letter to give to Ryan, which he planned to read aloud, just before getting to his knee and proposing. It had all been so perfect in his mind. But now... now, none of that was possible. Ryan was gone.

As the tears continued to fall, Dale lifted Ryan's lifeless hand and slid the ring onto his finger. He then clenched Ryan's fist and kissed it, hardly able to see through his own tears.

"I love you, Ryan MacPherson," he whispered. "I will always love you."

One final teardrop fell from his eye and splattered on the ground. Dale closed his eyes, squeezing Ryan's hand tightly, not wanting to let go. He wanted so badly to be with Ryan, to make it off this cursed island with him, to live with him happily ever after. But none of that was possible now.

After several seconds, Dale finally set Ryan's hand down on the ground, ran his hand through Ryan's thick hair, and got to his feet, looking down at the body.

Rachael continued to watch the scene play out before her, smiling the whole time. Dale turned around to face her, his expression of intense sadness suddenly turning to pure rage.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU'RE A FUCKING PSYCHO BITCH WHO'S GONNA FUCKING ROT IN HELL!" he screamed as loudly as his already tired out voice would allow.

Rachael Bingham just kept smiling.


	10. Episode 9: Boom

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE NINE: "BOOM"

* * *

Amanda

Andrew

Dale

Graham

Julie

Luke

Rachael

Shea

Yulissa

* * *

The blackened, charred corpse of Ryan MacPherson lay motionless on the ground as Dale Mooney cried over the corpse. And all the while, Rachael Bingham, the woman who had been responsible for killing this man, was grinning as she watched the scene.

Rachael loved witnessing the pain of others, and she liked it even more so when said pain had been inflicted by her own doing. She was undoubtedly a very troubled woman with a very troubled past, and this was her way of coping with that. She loved to murder people, to watch people suffer, to see people deal with pain just like she had done all of her life.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU'RE A FUCKING PSYCHO BITCH WHO'S GONNA FUCKING ROT IN HELL!" Dale screamed as loudly as his already tired out voice would allow.

Not giving him any verbal response, Rachael simply just smiled cynically back at him. It was this reaction that had set him over the edge. He could no longer even look this evil woman in the eye anymore. He needed to get out of here, to get away from this psychotic monster, to get off the island safely and to properly mourn the loss of his boyfriend whom he had so hoped to marry one day.

Though he was much smaller physically compared to his now deceased lover, Dale mustered up all his strength and lifted the body of Ryan MacPherson, and he briskly walked away from the scene and into the woods, hoping to find the boathouse that all of the other survivors had gathered at.

He soon broke into a jog. And then a run. He just wanted to get away from everything. He panted as he lugged the heavy body through the thicket of woods, but his mind was only set on one thing, and that was to survive.

* * *

Amanda Mathis and Shea Allen, who had fled the electric fence scene after Dale had insisted they do so, had made it to a relatively large beach after exiting the woods. Sure enough, they found what they had been looking for.

On top of a small hill, with a wooden staircase leading to it, was the boathouse.

"Oh, thank God," Shea breathed. It almost felt as good as being rescued and safe from all this chaos.

"You think they're all in there?" asked Amanda, wondering if the other half of the survivors had arrived here before they did.

"Only one way to find out," said Shea.

Shea and Amanda made their way up to the boathouse, proceeding with extreme caution. They knew Rachael had been at the electric fence, but that didn't stop them from fearing she might be here in this boathouse, just waiting for them to enter so she could kill them both off.

Amanda slowly opened the door and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw Andrew McCaffrey, Graham Deeley, Julie Mathis, Luke Bingham, and Yulissa White were inside; they had all made it there safely, and Graham was currently trying to get the radio working.

Amanda rushed to Andrew and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. This was all she wanted right now: she wanted someone to comfort her and make her feel relaxed. And Andrew was doing just that for her.

"How long have you guys been here?" asked Shea as she sat down on one of the wooden chairs in the boathouse, breathing another sigh of relief.

"We just got here," replied Yulissa, who was leaning against one of the walls with her arms folded across her chest. "We've been having some trouble getting through to anyone on this radio."

"I know the Coast Guard has some kind of distress channel, I'm trying to figure out where it is..." said Graham, sounding very concentrated as he carefully turned the many different knobs and dials on the large, old-fashioned radio.

The boathouse was dead silent aside from the sounds of static emanating from the radio. Everyone within the small wooden shack held their breath, praying for an answer, praying for someone to hear their cries for help, praying for someone to finally come rescue them.

Shea Allen glanced around at everyone inside, at all her fellow survivors. Amanda's arms remained wrapped tightly around Andrew's waist as they both watched Graham fiddle with the radio. Yulissa remained stoic as she stood against the wall. Julie's face was buried in her hands as she sat on one of the stools. And Luke seemed to be standing guard, gripping his shotgun tightly, almost seeming ready to open fire at any moment.

Shea began to wonder about the fates of Dale and Ryan, if they survived the brush with Rachael. She began to think back on the past few days, about how close she had become with Rachael and how she had considered her a true friend. It made her sick to her stomach knowing she had befriended such a coldblooded killer.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Harper's Island, we're in need of assistance! Do you read me?" said Graham into the radio, repeating the phrases several times, hoping for some kind of response.

After what seemed like an eternity, a distorted voice finally emitted from the large metal box.

"This is U.S. Coast Guard Port of Seattle. Person in distress, please give us your location, over."

In spite of the heavy distortion and static accompanying the voice, the words could be understood loud and clear to everyone in the boathouse. They had finally reached the outside world. Graham's face lit up as he spoke once again into the radio.

"Yes, this is Graham Deeley. We're on Harper's Island right now and we need help," he said, his voice shaking.

"Roger that, Harper's Island. What's your emergency? Over."

"There's a killer on the island... my sister... she's already killed almost two dozen people, including police officers. She's on the loose right now, we have no idea where she is, and we need immediate assistance if you can," said Graham as calmly as possible.

"Roger, Harper's Island. Stay calm and sit tight, we'll have police and rescue teams on their way as soon as possible."

"How long is that going to take?" asked Graham desperately.

"We've got some heavy fog over here in Seattle at the moment but we'll do what we can. It should take no more than four hours. Stay by the radio so we can reach you."

"Right, roger that. Thank you," said Graham as he set down the mouthpiece, a smile spreading across his mouth.

Julie leaped out of her chair and rushed to Graham, throwing her arms around him and kissing him.

"You did it, baby! You did it!" she giggled as she continued to smother him with kisses.

Yulissa glared at the scene with a gleam of jealousy in her eyes, when suddenly, the boathouse door burst open. Luke immediately raised his gun to point at the intruder as several other people jumped and shrieked, startled by the sudden entrance.

"Luke, wait! Stop!" yelled Graham as soon as he saw who had entered.

Dale Mooney, his cheeks still wet from his tears, stood at the threshold of the boathouse, looking tired, beaten, and emotionally spent, and in his arms was the body of Ryan MacPherson. A few people gasped and Shea clasped her hands over her mouth.

"She got to him. He was too late," croaked Dale, having hardly any voice left.

Shea walked over to Dale and placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry, Dale," she whispered. "But we've called for help. The Coast Guard is on their way."

This news caused Dale to break down in tears once again. He handed Ryan's body over to Graham, who gently placed it in the corner of the room, as Dale sat down with Shea, who continued to comfort him through his loss.

* * *

About 30 minutes had passed, and all eight survivors remained cooped up in the boathouse. The time seemed to drag on forever; the half hour that had passed felt more like 10 hours as the survivors continued to wait for their rescuers to take them off this horrible island.

And many of them couldn't help but wonder where Rachael was, if she was on her way, or if she even knew where they all were.

Julie Mathis remained optimistic, as she had always done in life. She knew that Rachael had no idea where they could be right now, and that this boathouse was just a tiny speck on a relatively large island. She felt there was no way Rachael could find them before the Coast Guard arrived. Instead, she rested her head peacefully on Graham's shoulder, stroking her fiance's arm, looking forward to returning home with him and trying to start things over.

The minor scandal involving Yulissa had indeed been a speed bump on Julie and Graham's road to eternal happiness together, but Julie was willing to overlook that, as she had now forgiven Graham and realized that his feelings for her hadn't changed.

Yulissa, on the other hand, had completely different thoughts in mind. These past few days she had spent with Graham had done nothing but solidify her feelings for him. She loved him now more than ever before. And with all the pain and suffering they had both endured - the fact they had both lost their fathers along with several other close friends - it had only made Yulissa feel more drawn to him, more emotionally connected with him.

At this point, Yulissa felt almost certain that she and Graham were meant to be together.

* * *

The first hour had finally passed. Time continued to move at a snail's pace for the survivors, but they were almost there. They were so close to safety.

A few of the survivors napped while others stayed alert. They had all barricaded the door with any heavy objects they could find to keep Rachael out if she were to come by. They didn't want to have come this far just to be found by Rachael and murdered on the spot.

But their efforts to keep themselves safe had all been in vain.

The survivors were all startled by the loud sound of glass breaking. The butt of a shotgun had smashed through one of the windows of the boathouse. Andrew, Graham, and Luke all jumped to their feet and raised their shotguns, aiming them at Rachael Bingham, who had just appeared in the window.

As Rachael pointed her own shotgun into the boathouse at the eight survivors, Andrew, Graham, and Luke all hesitated. Emotions aside, they all should have shot her dead on the spot. But each of these three men had a connection to this woman. Andrew had grown up on Harper's Island with her. Graham knew her as his only sibling. And Luke was Rachael's own son. For each of them, it was much easier said than done to pull the trigger and end Rachael Bingham's life, no matter how deranged she had become.

After nobody had fired, Rachael climbed through the broken window, planting her two feet firmly on the ground as everyone in the boathouse held their breath. They didn't know what to do; nobody but the three men were armed, and none of them were shooting. Everyone was left at a standstill.

"Hello everyone," said Rachael, breaking the silence with a surprisingly chipper voice.

"You bitch," murmured Dale.

"I'm just here for a chat," continued Rachael, the tone of her voice sounding nothing like that of a killer. "I'll put my gun down if you put down yours. Deal?"

Luke was the first to drop his gun. Following suit, Andrew and Graham did the same, though they were both much more cautious about it. Once the three shotguns had been set to the floor, Rachael placed hers there as well.

"There," she said with a smile. "Now I think we all need to talk."

"How the hell did you find us?" said Graham suddenly, as if the act of lowering the guns had suddenly given him permission to speak.

"That's not important," snapped Rachael. "I'd just like to get the chance to maybe explain myself, if you don't mind."

"There's no way you can explain what you've done," said Shea with a clear tone of hatred in her voice.

Rachael suddenly turned her eyes from the three men in front of her and walked over to Shea, stopping a mere feet away from her.

"What was that, Shea?" she asked sweetly, though everyone knew it wasn't genuine.

"How can you possibly explain killing your friends? Your husband? Your father? Your own daughter, for Christ's sake!" replied Shea, almost shouting the last part.

Rachael didn't respond at first, so Shea took that as an opportunity to continue.

"I have a daughter of my own, and she means the world to me. I can't even imagine what my life would be like if I ever lost her. And you... I came here to this wedding not knowing many people, I'll admit, but I made some friends. And you, Rachael, you were one of the people I really felt a connection with. You were a fellow mother, and you really seemed to love your children as much as I love Madison. And I respected you for that. But now, you've turned into this... this monster. You've killed your own daughter. How the hell can you live with yourself after that? What kind of soul could you possibly have left after taking the life of your own child, much less the lives of so many other innocent people?"

As she finished her monologue, Shea's voice cracked and she began to cry. All the while, she looked Rachael plainly in the eyes, hoping to get through to her, hoping that she would see the light and realize what a horrible thing she had done.

But Shea got a reaction that she certainly hadn't expected or hoped for. In one quick maneuver, Rachael swirled around, snatched one of the shotguns off the floor, turned back to face Shea, and aimed the gun right at the woman's chest. Gasps were heard, screams were heard, and Andrew quickly reached for his own gun to fight back.

"No, stop!" shouted Luke suddenly, grabbing Andrew by the arm, stopping him from grabbing the gun.

Before Andrew could question why Luke would stop him, Shea continued to speak.

"Rachael, if you're going to kill me, a fellow mother, someone whose daughter is waiting for her mom to come home safely... if you're going to leave that poor girl back home without a mother... then I truly think you've lost all hope in life. You'll have nothing left. Rachael, the woman I met a few days ago wasn't a murderer. And I'm sure Graham and Andrew and Luke and everyone else in here that knows you can vouch for me when I say that. You're not like this. Don't do this, Rachael. Stop while you're ahead. Please."

Tears were now streaming down Shea's face as she practically pleaded to Rachael for her life. And suddenly, the stern, angry expression that was etched on Rachael's face had melted away. Shea had finally hit a nerve in this woman. Rachael had finally begun to realize the monster she had become.

A surge of memories suddenly went running through Rachael's mind. The memory of her childhood and how horrible it was. She hated life so much back then, she had been so traumatized by growing up in a broken family with a father that was nearly clinically insane. All those memories had filled Rachael with hatred and made her want nothing but revenge on people who had it better than her.

But then some other memories consumed her brain. Though there were not many of them, there were also some good things Rachael had experienced in life. She had gone to college, she had met Henry Dunn, she had fell in love with him once, she had given birth to two children whom she loved, one of whom was now dead because of her. And all these feelings came crashing down on her, consuming her with guilt.

Rachael dropped her gun and began to sob.

She thought of Bri. She thought about why she had killed her; at the time, it was because she thought Bri had lost trust in her, that she no longer considered herself a part of the Bingham family, because she thought her own mother was a murderer. But Bri had been right. Rachael was a murderer. And now Bri was dead for no good reason. Rachael had taken away one of the only things in life that made her truly happy, and that was her family. Franklin was dead, and now Bri.

Rachael looked over her shoulder at Luke, her son, who looked at her in bewilderment, and she began to cry even harder. She ran over to Luke and hugged him, crying into his shoulder, but he just looked uncomfortable and confused.

That was when Yulissa grabbed the metal stool she had been sitting on, slowly approached Rachael, and whacked her over the head with it. Rachael slumped to the floor, knocked out cold.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Yulissa matter-of-factly.

* * *

"Maybe we should do the cops a favor and lock this bitch up," said Dale, towering over Rachael as she lay unconscious on the floor.

"Yeah, I don't think we should risk her waking up and going apeshit on all of us," said Yulissa.

"Well, why don't a couple of us stay here by the radio, and the rest of us take her to the police station, lock her up in a cell until the police get here?" suggested Andrew.

"I'll stay here," Shea offered.

"Yeah, I will too," added Dale, as he eyed Ryan's body still laying in the corner. Even in death, Dale didn't want to leave his side.

"Alright. The rest of us can haul her over to the prison, maybe get some food in us. I know I'm sure as hell starving." He took a breath, then smiled a bit. "God, we're finally getting off this damn island."

Andrew had now lived through three massacres on Harper's Island, and for him, the third time was definitely the charm. There was no way he was ever coming back to this strip of land.

Graham and Andrew helped carry Rachael back across the island to the police station, while Luke, Yulissa, and Julie carried the shotguns, remaining armed, just as an added security.

Back in the boathouse, Dale sat next to Ryan's body. He absentmindedly stroked Ryan's lifeless hand, somehow wishing that it would miraculously help to breathe life back into him. Shea couldn't help but watch the scene and feel heartbroken. Dale had lost the love of his life because of Rachael Bingham. So many other people had lost loved ones, all to mindless acts of murder, committed by a woman who was just severely mentally unstable.

Shea approached Dale and stood in front of him, her cold hands stuffed in the pockets of her overcoat.

"Dale... I'm so sorry," she said softly.

Dale looked up at Shea and managed a smile for the first time in hours, but Shea could easily see the glisten of tears forming in his eyes again.

"We're gonna make it, Shea," he replied, his voice raspy. "We've all gone through so much shit, but we're gonna make it off this island. You're gonna go back home to Madison. That bitch Rachael will be sentenced to twenty lifetimes in prison."

"...But what about you?" Shea asked sincerely, after a slight pause.

Dale wiped a tear from his eye as he continued to stroke Ryan's cold dead hand. "I'll give Ryan the memorial service he deserves, and I'll move on. We're all going to have to move on, Shea. Julie and Amanda lost their mom and their sister. Yulissa lost her dad. Andrew lost his brother. Graham, he lost his dad and now his sister is a psychotic killer. We've all got a lot of shit we'll have to live with, for the rest of our lives. But we'll move on, Shea. Just like you did ten years ago. You're the strongest person I know, and I think all of us will be able to come out of this just as strong as you were."

Shea's eyes fluttered as tears of her own began to form, and she smiled at Dale as she leaned in and gave him a hug.

After all the pain and all the suffering that everyone had dealt with, and even after coming face-to-face with Rachael herself, Shea finally had high hopes that things were going to turn out okay in the end.

* * *

The trip from the boathouse to the police station didn't seem nearly as long and treacherous as it had been going the opposite direction. Perhaps it was because the survivors finally had hope that they would be okay, that they would be rescued, and that all the killings were behind them, at last.

Rachael had begun to stir, but before she was able to fully reach consciousness again, she had already been tightly locked up in one of the jail cells. After making sure the killer was finally behind bars where she couldn't hurt anyone, the six survivors began to file out of the jail room, until only Graham, Andrew, and Amanda remained.

"Graham," said Rachael in a pleading tone, walking up to the bars of her cell and grasping onto them tightly. "Wait."

As he made his way out of the room, Graham stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at his sister. He had never been all that close with Rachael, but he had never hated or even disliked her at any point in his life. But now, he felt absolutely nothing but rage and extreme hatred towards the woman with whom he had grown up.

"Please, Graham. Please," breathed Rachael, almost forcing herself to cry.

Graham didn't answer her pleas. Instead, he turned to Amanda and Andrew, and he handed Amanda his shotgun.

"You two stay in here and keep a close eye on her," he said firmly, to which Andrew obediently nodded.

And with one more disgusted glance at his sister, Graham exited the room and shut the door behind him.

Rachael sighed sadly as Andrew and Amanda each took a seat on one of the chairs placed inside the somewhat small jail room. Each of them held their guns in their laps, willing to use them as scare tactics if Rachael started misbehaving.

Several minutes of silence filled the room, until Andrew had finally mustered up the courage to ask the one question that had been plaguing his mind for the last several hours.

"Rachael, I've known you since I was a kid... what possessed you to do all this?" he asked with both contempt and curiosity in his voice.

Rachael, who was now sitting on the floor in the corner of her cell, shifted her position a little before speaking.

"You know the kind of childhood Graham and I had. You were his best friend. You knew our dad. He was the most unstable person I've ever known, and 18 years of a shaky, unstable childhood is enough to traumatize anyone," said Rachael matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but Graham had the exact same childhood, and he turned out to be one of the most respectable guys I know..." said Andrew, but he was quickly interrupted by Rachael.

"Well, I'm not Graham, now am I?!" she said, slightly maniacally, her cheeks turning a bit red out of anger.

"I know, I know... but did you really have to kill people? I mean, you killed... you killed my brother Mikey," said Andrew, his voice cracking slightly as he got the last few words out.

"18 years of being depressed, feeling neglected, feeling alone... that's enough to drive anyone off the edge. When I got older I started loathing other people around me. I started to realize there were so many people out me who grew up great, they had great childhoods, great families, people who loved them and cared about them. I had a dad who spent more than half of his life on meds to keep his brain in check, and it wasn't until the last few years of his life that he finally shaped up and started caring about us. But for me, that was too little, too late. The damage had already been done."

At this point, Rachael got to her feet and started slowly walking in circles around her cell as she continued talking.

"So I finally left home after high school, I felt free, I wanted to do everything I could to rebel against everything, against life. I did pretty much everything you could think of that was outside the norm of the 'ideal woman'. I slept with more guys than I could count. I tried every drug under the sun. I experimented with Satanism. I mean, I did some pretty crazy stuff. But none of that felt satisfying enough. I still felt this... this extreme hatred towards people, towards everyone who had things better than I did. I mean, I've been living with these feelings for more than 20 years now. All that time, I still never felt satisfied. I never felt like I had made up for the horrible childhood I had. I felt like I still needed to get my revenge, in some way."

"So you got invited to your brother's wedding, and that's when you decided killing people," said Amanda in disbelief.

"Bingo. For me, this was the perfect opportunity. Most of the people I knew during my childhood were going to all be gathered in one place. On top of that, they would be gathered in one place for a wedding, a celebration. Now, me personally, I don't like to celebrate. And I especially don't like to see other people celebrating. If they lived the kind of life I've lived, they'd realize they don't have much to celebrate. I hated the idea of coming to a wedding, but it was just a golden opportunity. Not only would I be able to get revenge on my own family, but I'd be able to slaughter one of the richest families on the west coast: the Mathis family."

Amanda's expression suddenly changed to complete horror.

"I didn't know much about the Mathis family, but I did know how stinking rich they were, and how materialistic they were. I mean, obviously, the Mathis family is everything I loathe about people all balled up into one. I felt like this wedding would be a double whammy for me."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," muttered Amanda, turning her gaze away from Rachael and looking towards the floor, closing her eyes. Andrew, on the other hand, kept his eyes upon Rachael the whole time.

"So you came to the wedding to kill your family, the only people in your entire life that loved you, along with tons of other innocent lives?" he asked, wanting clarification.

"Absolutely. I saw it as the perfect way for me to finally release myself from all the pain and suffering I've gone through in life. I figured that by inflicting even worse pain on other people, it would help minimize my own pain and help me feel better about myself."

Andrew shook his head in disgust. "Well, you got it totally wrong, Rachael. Murder was not the answer. And now you're going to pay for it. Every single person that's died in the past few days is dead because of you, and you sure as hell aren't gonna get away with that."

Rachael suddenly stopped, then approached the bars and grasped onto them again, peering through the gap at Andrew and Amanda, who had now returned her gaze back to the killer. A grin suddenly appeared on Rachael's face as she looked at them.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. Not every single person is dead because of me," she said quietly and eerily.

There was a pause as both Andrew and Amanda looked at her confusedly.

"What... what do you mean?" asked Andrew.

Rachael's smile grew a bit bigger.

"Well I'm not Superman; I couldn't have killed all those people by myself. Someone's been helping me."

* * *

Graham, Julie, Luke, and Yulissa all sat out in the office area, munching on bag lunches they had found in one of the desk drawers. None of them cared how old the lunches were, or if they had been partially eaten already; they were all famished after not eating for days.

"How much longer you think it'll be before they get here?" asked Julie, continually looking at the clock on the wall.

"Well, they said four hours at the most... I'd say it shouldn't take any longer than two hours by now," said Graham optimistically.

Julie lay cuddled beside Graham on one of the benches, and Yulissa took a large bite of her ham and turkey sandwich as she watched them both. She kept trying to push her feelings of jealousy aside. She wanted so badly for everyone to make it off the island alive, but at the same time, she knew that once they all got back to the mainland, Julie and Graham would start where they had left off, and they would live happily ever after.

Yulissa White had so badly wanted her happily ever after with Graham. But now she knew that it was slipping away from her by the second.

Several more minutes passed by, and the survivors had finished their food when Luke dramatically stretched his arms out and yawned loudly.

"Wow. Well I dunno about you guys, but I'm exhausted. I think we should get some shuteye before the Coast Guard gets here. The time'll go by faster that way anyway," he said as he set his gun down and leaned his head back.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm sure all of us could use some rest now anyway. And Andrew and Amanda have things all under control in there," said Graham.

In a matter of minutes, they had all fallen asleep.

All except for one.

* * *

Andrew McCaffrey and Amanda Mathis had fallen asleep as well, unable to stay awake, their guns laying limply at their sides. Rachael simply sat in her jail cell, literally twiddling her thumbs.

Suddenly, the door to the jail room opened slowly. Rachael immediately perked up; it was just who she wanted to see.

It was her accomplice.

Without saying a word, Rachael eagerly pointed at Andrew and Amanda, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. The accomplice stealthily walked toward the sleeping couple and pulled a small yet very sharp knife out of their pocket. The accomplice stopped right beside Andrew and Amanda, and all the while, Rachael watched from within her cell with excitement, as if she was watching a thrilling action scene from a movie.

With one fell swoop, the accomplice took the knife and cut deeply into both Andrew and Amanda's throats. They both awakened instantly, but the only sounds they could make were gurgling noises as blood gushed from the fresh gashes in both of their necks. Rachael's accomplice then stood in front of both Andrew and Amanda, who were now writhing in pain, clutching at their bleeding throats.

With the knife still firmly in their grip, the accomplice stabbed Amanda forcefully in the chest, and immediately after, took the knife out of Amanda and shoved it through Andrew's heart.

Both bodies crumpled off of the benches and landed on top of one another in a bloody mess. The accomplice wiped some of the blood off the knife, then placed it back in their pocket before turning around to face Rachael in her cell. She looked elated.

"Brilliant," she said, her eyes gleaming.

However, her accomplice didn't look quite so pleased.

"What the fuck happened?"

Rachael's smile immediately faded, and she backed away from the bars. She could tell her accomplice was not happy.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she stuttered.

"You know EXACTLY what I mean!" the accomplice shouted, looking furious. Realizing how loudly they had just spoken, the accomplice lowered the volume of their voice considerably. "This... this was not part of the plan."

Rachael did not answer. She simply stood against the wall of her cell, looking slightly frightened.

"You had the perfect chance to kill Shea Allen. I gave you all the help you needed. I told you exactly where we were going. I told you we were going to the boathouse. You had a shotgun. That was your chance to kill Shea!"

"I know, but there were other people with shotguns..." said Rachael, still stuttering slightly.

"That's a bullshit excuse, and you know it," snapped the accomplice angrily. "You know I would've stopped anyone from hurting you. Shea Allen needed to die then. That was part of our plan. And you blew it. You let your damn emotions get the better of you and now look where we've ended up."

"I know, and I'm sorry... but I'll still end up going to prison. I'm okay with that. That's what we decided. I go to prison, you get off scott-free. It was all part of our plan!" replied Rachael.

"No, our plan was to kill everyone. And I don't think everyone's dead."

"But... so you're saying you still want everyone dead?" said Rachael. "We already got our whole plan to work... what's it matter if a handful of people make it off the island...?"

"No. That's not okay. I came to this island with the intention of killing every single person. That was the only way I would've left this island feeling satisfied. I wanted everyone dead." The accomplice made sure to emphasize the word "everyone" each time, and each time the accomplice gave a menacing look towards Rachael.

Rachael's heart began to race. She didn't like the sound of her accomplice's voice.

"What... what are you saying...?" she asked.

The accomplice grabbed one of the shotguns that lay resting on the floor. Rachael's eyes widened in horror as her own accomplice stepped closer to the bars. The accomplice cocked the gun and pointed it directly in between two of the steel bars.

"No... no..." stammered Rachael as she stared, terrified, at the barrel of the gun aimed directly at her head.

"You've given me no choice. You've been a huge help to me, but now I'm going to finish my plan. Sorry it happened to be different from yours," said the accomplice with a simple shrug.

"No... please don't...."

The trigger was pulled.

BOOM!

Rachael Bingham's head exploded from the force of the blast, and blood and body parts splattered all over the walls. The headless body immediately collapsed in a heap on the floor.

The thin, wispy smoke cleared from the barrel of the shotgun. Luke Bingham stared at the dead body of his mother and triumphantly lowered the gun. He then looked towards the door leading back out into the police office.

Time was running out. There were still five people alive out there.

And not one of them was going to make it off this island.


	11. Episode 10 Finale: Sniff

HARPER'S ISLAND 2

EPISODE TEN (FINALE): "SNIFF"

* * *

Dale

Graham

Julie

Luke

Shea

Yulissa

* * *

Luke Bingham stood in front of the bars of his mother's jail cell, grasping the shotgun in his hands. He stared at the bloody, headless corpse of Rachael Bingham, his mother and his partner in crime. Together, the two of them had managed to kill nearly the entire wedding party on Harper's Island.

But Rachael ruined the plan. She broke down, she let her emotions get the best of her, and she got herself caught and locked up in a jail cell.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Rachael had successfully completed most of her duties in this grand scheme the mother and son duo had thought up. She killed Bri and Franklin; despite being part of the immediate Bingham family, they both needed to go. Rachael had finally been able to get her revenge on Franklin for how terribly he had treated her. And Bri was becoming too skeptical of her own family; once they lost her trust, both Rachael and Luke knew she needed to be disposed of.

It had been difficult for Rachael, without a doubt, for her to kill some of her own family members. But she knew that this was the only way for her to achieve closure, to feel whole, to erase the terrible pain she had suffered growing up as a child.

Luke, however, was not done. There were still lives on this island that needed to end. He was still far from feeling that sense of closure.

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - 12 YEARS AGO**_

_"Fuck you, daddy!" screamed 6-year-old Luke, stomping his feet at his father as Rachael stood in the corner of the room, cradling a crying baby Bri in her arms._

_"Luke, watch your damn mouth!" Franklin yelled back, pointing a threatening finger at his son._

_"You SUCK as a daddy! I hate you!" And without waiting for a response, Luke stormed up the stairs of the Bingham household and entered his room, slamming his door behind him, as Franklin stormed out of the room as well._

_Luke had grown tired of his parents, Rachael and Franklin, arguing and fighting night after night. It was always the same routine in the Bingham house; Franklin would come home from work for the day, often drunk, and would lash out at Rachael for little to no reason, even beating her on occasion. In Luke's six years of life, Franklin had already been charged of domestic violence on three occasions. It was not the kind of life Luke enjoyed at all._

_Rachael stood in silence for a few seconds downstairs after Luke's temper tantrum. She absently rocked Bri in her arms, trying to quiet her down, and as she did so she thought about her son. Rachael had lived a miserable life up until she had given birth to Luke. But the moment she held her first-born child in her arms, she felt an instant connection to him; she knew that he would perhaps be the one person that would understand her, the one person she could confide in. She wanted to raise him, mold him in her image... maybe even someday, he would help her get revenge on all the people who were responsible for ruining her life._

_Rachael set Bri in the small crib that was located in the living room, and then she went upstairs to her son's bedroom. She knocked on the door, and Luke opened it, giving her permission to enter._

_"Hi sweetie," she said soothingly as she sat at the foot of Luke's small bed._

_"What do you want?" snapped Luke, still angry over the recent blowout with his father._

_"Sit down next to mommy, Luke," she cooed, patting the bed, and Luke sat down beside her._

_Rachael put her arm around him as she looked lovingly at her son. He simply folded his arms across his chest, huffing and puffing angrily like any typical 6-year-old boy would do._

_"Talk to me, honey. What's the matter?" she asked, though she already knew the answer._

_"I hate daddy. I hate how he treats you, I hate how he treats all of us. I want a new daddy. Fuck this daddy," Luke replied bluntly._

_Rachael couldn't help but grin._

_"You know what, sweetie? I remember thinking the exact same things when I was your age. I hated my childhood; my daddy was a terrible daddy too. There were so many times where I just wanted to leave, but I couldn't."_

_"You hated Grandpa?" asked Luke, sounding curious._

_"Oh, I did," said Rachael. "Growing up for me was really hard. And I know it's hard for you too, sweetie, because daddy can do some very mean things."_

_"If he's so mean to you then how come you guys don't get a divorce?" said Luke in his high-pitched voice._

_Rachael chuckled a bit. "Oh honey, I couldn't do that. I need to stay with daddy so we can support you and Bri. He brings home the money. We need him."_

_"But I'm sick of this daddy! I want a different one!"_

_Rachael patted Luke on the shoulder to calm him down. "I know it's hard now, sweetie. But you always have mommy here to talk to. And when you get older... I promise, things will get better."_

_Rachael trailed off a bit after this last sentence as she began to drift off into her imagination... she imagined killing Franklin, killing her father, killing anyone who had destroyed her life, with a grown Luke by her side, supporting her all the way._

_He would be her protege, just how she had wanted it._

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - 2 YEARS AGO**_

_"Rachael, you never fucking listen to me!" screamed Franklin from downstairs. The next thing Luke heard was a "thump" and his mother Rachael screaming in pain._

_Luke shook his head and scoffed. "I'm getting the fuck outta here," he mumbled to himself._

_He stormed out of his bedroom and raced down the stairs toward the front door._

_"Luke, where the hell do you think you're--?" called Franklin from the living room as he noticed his son opening the door, but before he could finish his sentence, Luke was gone._

_The 16-year-old troubled teen was tired of living in a home of abuse and poor parenting. He had grown close with his mother, but always she seemed to be too busy arguing with Franklin to give Luke much attention at all. And Bri was too into her dark and mysterious books and web sites for her to be any fun to hang around._

_It was 10pm on a Friday night. By now, this had become routine: Luke would go to a college house party in town, drink himself silly, try any drugs available to him, and sleep with any girl or guy he could get his hands on. Sex, drugs, and alcohol were the three ways Luke coped with his problems._

_As Luke walked down some of the dark alleys of Chicago, trying to find any party that would be open to him, he heard something in the distance, sounding like it was coming from the alleyway ahead of him._

_Luke crept towards the alley, his hands in his pockets to keep himself warm, trying to remain quiet to avoid drawing attention to himself. As he approached the alleyway, the noises became more distinct: it sounded like someone was being attacked._

_Luke stopped far enough to remain hidden, but close enough to see and hear exactly what was going on. It was a mugger, wearing a black ski mask to conceal his identity, and he was brutally attacking another man. The mugger held a baseball bat and was beating the victim over and over, showing no mercy. The man cried for help, running out of strength and succumbing to the attacks. He was helpless; there was nothing he could do against his attacker._

_All the while, Luke simply stood and stared. He didn't do what any other person would have done. He didn't try to stop the mugger, he didn't call for help, he didn't contact the police. He simply stood and watched in amazement. As Luke watched the scene, he almost could feel the emotions of the attacker as he swung the bat down on the beaten man. Luke felt almost jealous of the mugger; he had years of built-up anger that he felt he needed to get out, and this seemed to be the perfect way to do so._

_And watching this brutal act of violence gave Luke some ideas._

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - 2 MONTHS AGO**_

_18-year-old Luke opened the mailbox and yanked out the only thing inside: a fancily embroidered envelope. He scoffed when he saw it, then brought it inside._

_"Hey, looks like we got some stupid ass wedding invitation," Luke called out as he entered the front door, tossing the envelope on the kitchen table._

_Rachael entered the kitchen, picked it up, and opened it. Indeed, inside the envelope was an invitation to the wedding of her brother, Graham, and the wealthy Julie Mathis. At first, she felt the same feeling of dread her son had felt when he had first seen the invitation. But then, she had a sudden realization._

_This wedding would be the perfect chance for Rachael and Luke to lash out, get their revenge, inflict pain on others in order to minimize the pain that they had both felt all their lives._

_Later that day, Rachael met with Luke in private, in his bedroom, holding the invitation in her hand._

_"Oh mom, really? We're not going to that lame, shitty wedding, are we?" Luke moaned._

_"Trust me, honey, I don't want to go any more than you do. I hate weddings. But I have an idea."_

_Rachael sat down on Luke's bed as he stood against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, listening to his mother explain her idea, her plan. The plan to ruin the lives of dozens of people at this wedding. It would be full of people celebrating and enjoying the company of their loved ones. All these emotions that Rachael and Luke had never gotten to feel growing up. And this would be the perfect opportunity for them to exact their revenge, to release all the pain and anger that had been building up in them both for years._

_As they plotted and schemed, they were both well aware of the consequences. So to protect her son, Rachael had agreed that, in the event they were caught in the act, she would take full responsibility for their actions and suffer the consequences, allowing her son to go free and live the life that he deserved to have._

_And thus, the plan to kill the guests of the Harper's Island wedding had been set in motion._

* * *

Luke stood in front of the jail cell, remembering the time when he formulated the plan with his mother. Her prime targets had been Bronson and Franklin, the two men who had ruined her life the most, and she was willing to go after anyone else who would stand in their way.

Luke, on the other hand, planned to show no mercy towards anyone. Just like that mugger in the alley. He would go after everyone on this island and show absolutely no mercy in the process.

Rachael had seemed to be content with finishing where they were. She had been caught, the other survivors locked her up, and she was ready to take full responsibility for the killings. Nobody knew that Luke was involved.

But Luke no longer cared about the consequences. He only cared about killing every last person on this island. He wanted to finish what he started.

For him, it was the only way he would be able to feel complete, to feel like he had made up for his horrible childhood.

Luke lowered the shotgun in his hands. The echos from his gunshot still rang through the small room.

And suddenly, the doors burst open.

"What the fuck...?!" yelled a male voice.

Luke turned. There stood Graham Deeley, his uncle, Rachael's brother. Graham stood in the doorway, immediately noticing Rachael's bloodied corpse on the floor of the jail cell, the nearby balls splattered with her blood. And then he noticed his nephew, Luke, standing right in front of the bars, the shotgun in his hands.

"Luke, what the hell is going on?!" shouted Graham, seemingly unable to comprehend the fact that not only was his sister dead, but she had been murdered by her own son.

"I did what had to be done," said Luke in an eerily quiet, calm voice. "She needed to die."

"What do you mean... she needed to die? We had her locked up, dude! You just shot your own mother!"

"I know. It was part of my plan." Luke stared at Graham with a deadpan expression.

"What the hell are you talking about? Luke?" Graham's voice suddenly started to quiver a bit from both fear and confusion. He had no idea what was going on.

That is, until Luke shifted his entire body to face Graham.

And he lifted the shotgun.

"Oh... fuck!" screamed Graham.

BOOM!

Luke fired the gun. But he was too late. Graham had retreated back into the office area, shutting the giant steel doors, causing the bullet to deflect, leaving just a mere dent in the doors. Graham began to panic in the office, as both Yulissa and Julie had woken up from the noise.

"Graham! What's going on?" asked Julie, still half-asleep.

Graham didn't respond. He started desperately looking for something to barricade the door, anything that would keep Luke from bursting in and killing them all off. Miraculously, there was a small metal pole, which was perhaps once used as a mini-flagpole, laying across the floor behind the sheriff's desk. Graham grabbed the pole and thrust it between the handles of the large steel doors. The bar was enough to keep anyone from passing through.

"Graham!" Yulissa yelled this time, wanting an answer.

"God, there's no time to explain! We need to get the hell out of here and get back to the boathouse!" panted Graham.

Without further explanation, Graham snatched his shotgun, and the trio ran out of the police station.

* * *

"Harper's Island, this is U.S. Coast Guard. Do you read? Over."

The staticky voice emitted from the radio, and Shea Allen lunged toward it, grabbing the mouthpiece and speaking into it as Dale Mooney napped in the corner.

"Yes! Yes! I'm here," she breathed, a smile on her face. Were her rescuers finally here? Was she finally going to be able to escape the island and return home to Madison?

"Harper's Island, I'm sorry for the delay, but we're experiencing a lot of fog and rain and it's been holding us back. We may need to push the ETA back another hour or so. But we're getting there as fast as we can, over."

Shea felt a sudden pit in her stomach at the bad news.

"Okay... thank you," she said after a few seconds of hesitation.

And with that, the radio went silent.

Shea Allen slumped over in her chair, covering her face with her hand. She had been so looking forward to getting off the island, escaping with her life once again. She wanted so badly to see Madison again, to leave this godforsaken island and never ever return. And now this delay was doing nothing but keeping her from achieving that dream.

Sure, Rachael had been caught, and she had been locked up.

But Shea knew well enough from past experience that a small jail cell on Harper's Island isn't always enough to keep the killings at bay. After Wakefield had been locked up, he was released moments later by his son, Henry Dunn, and the two of them continued to kill the wedding guests on the island, including Danny Brooks, Chris Sullivan, and Shea's own sister, Trish Wellington. Shea's stomach lurched as she thought back on those awful memories.

She had a horrible feeling that this wasn't over yet.

* * *

Julie Mathis and Yulissa White ran through the forests of Harper's Island as fast as they could, as Graham Deeley, the love interest and protector of both women, ran behind them, shotgun in hand.

"Luke... I think he's been in cahoots with Rachael this whole time..." panted Graham, explaining the situation to the two women, trying to put the pieces together.

The look on Luke's face as he stared at his mother's corpse... what he had said to Graham... the mere fact that Luke had always been an angry child... it was all starting to make sense now. Luke had been helping his mother kill the wedding guests, and now he planned to finish the job all by himself.

Graham constantly looked over his shoulder, at least a dozen times a minute, to make sure they weren't being followed. They needed to get to the boathouse as fast as they could, to warn Shea and Dale, to request immediate assistance from the Coast Guard, to do anything they could to stop Luke.

The trio was getting closer and closer to their destination; they were all out of breath and worn out from running so fast and for so long, but they knew they couldn't stop. Not with a killer on their tail.

But as they continued on, running over the uneven ground, trying to avoid any loose roots or branches sticking out of the ground, Julie began running out of steam.

"Guys... I can't... breathe..." Julie gasped, breathing sharply and heavily, her lungs stinging, her face red from running so much.

Without saying a word, Graham quickly hunched over, allowing Julie to climb onto his back. He gave her the shotgun to hold as he grabbed onto her legs, and with that, they continued to run.

Unfortunately, that little break, albeit very short, was just enough time for Luke Bingham to catch up.

Luke had realized his shotgun was out of bullets back at the police station as he tried to fire another one through the steel doors. That had given him the advantage of not lugging around a heavy shotgun; instead, his weapon was now his knife, the very same one he had used to kill Amanda and Andrew.

Luke crept behind the trio, doing his best to keep quiet and remain unnoticed. He knew he needed to work this perfectly, or else his entire cover would be blown. Though he didn't have the brute power of the shotgun on his side any longer, he felt confident in his aim that he could still accomplish his goal.

He crouched down as he continued to run after the trio, trying his best to blend into his surroundings and keep from being seen, and he gripped his knife tightly as he began to concentrate. His eyes remained focused on the woman in front of him for a few seconds.

And then, he flung the knife forward as hard as he could.

A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. Luke disappeared into the foliage nearby and sprinted away towards the boathouse as the trio stopped in their tracks, distracted by the noise.

Julie Mathis screamed in agony; the sharp blade was protruding from her back, and blood began to pour from the wound. Graham set her down on her feet, unaware of what had just happened, but Julie's knees immediately buckled under her own weight and she collapsed to the ground. That was when Graham and Yulissa both saw the knife sticking out of the woman's back.

Graham's eyes bulged as Julie continued to scream and writhe in pain. Yulissa clasped her hands over her mouth in shock as well, and she looked around, trying to spot Luke; nobody had any idea that he was hot on their tracks, and now he was nowhere to be seen.

"You little motherfucker!" Graham screamed as loud as he could, his angry voice echoing through the woods.

Julie continued to wriggle on the ground, but she was running out of energy. Graham fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around his fiance, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"No... Julie, please..." he whimpered, as Yulissa could do nothing but stand and watch the scene in awe.

"Graham..." whispered Julie, the life already starting to fade from her eyes. "Graham... I love... you...."

With her final breaths, Julie's eyes suddenly locked on Yulissa, who stood directly behind Graham. Yulissa shivered as she looked at Julie's cold, dead eyes, which seemed to be almost staring into her soul, consuming her with guilt over having had an affair with Graham. Yulissa averted her eyes from Julie's body, unable to look anymore as the guilt began to overwhelm her.

Graham let out a loud sob as he knelt over his fiance's dead body, the blood still seeping onto the ground from her back. And then, he let out another loud, furious scream that echoed for several seconds. Another shiver was sent down Yulissa's spine as she looked at Graham, tears forming in her own eyes.

After a brief pause, Graham got to his feet. He grabbed his shotgun and he turned to face Yulissa, his face contorted with rage.

"Let's go kill that son of a bitch!" he grunted, and he marched forward.

Yulissa took one last look at Julie laying dead on the ground. She wiped a tear from her eye and then turned to follow Graham, without looking back.

* * *

"This hour can't go by fast enough, huh?" said Dale, now awake, as he looked at his watch.

Shea sat on a nearby bench, tapping her foot impatiently, and she nodded.

"I'm just so ready to get out of here. It could be any minute now before they get here," Shea said.

Every second that passed by, Shea hoped the Coast Guard would come bursting through the door to their rescue. She knew that once they arrived, she would be safe. But now, even with Rachael locked up in a jail cell, Shea did not feel the least bit safe.

Dale noticed Shea's increasingly apprehensive expression.

"Shea? Are you okay?" he asked.

"What?" she snapped, as if suddenly returning to earth from an alternate universe. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You don't need to be so on-edge... they got Rachael," Dale reminded Shea in a reassuring tone.

"I know, I know." Shea then looked over at Dale. "But you don't understand. Last time I was on this island... Wakefield had help. We thought it was all over when we locked him up. We thought we were safe. But all along, he had a helper. And people continued to die. My sister... my sister was one of them."

Shea took a moment to compose herself, as her voice began to crack at the thought of her sister Trish.

"I just can't help but think maybe the same thing is happening now. Do you really think Rachael was capable of killing all those people by herself?"

Dale paused for several seconds; he had never really given that idea much thought.

"I mean... you never know..." he said absently, trying to convince himself that Shea's suspicions were false.

"I have this terrible feeling that Rachael's had an accomplice. It could be anyone at the police office right now. They could have let Rachael out... and she might be on her way here as we speak..."

"Shea, stop!" said Dale suddenly, jumping to his feet. "Stop saying stuff like that! We're fine! The Coast Guard is on its way..."

Suddenly, in mid-sentence, the door to the boathouse burst open. Luke Bingham walked in, a crazed expression on his face, as he brandished a knife. It was a second knife, a backup, that he had kept in his pocket. Shea screamed at the sudden entrance, and Dale looked at Luke in horror.

"Luke! What... what are you doing?" Dale asked, his voice trembling as he stared at the knife in Luke's hand.

"I'm coming here to finish what my mom failed to do," said Luke as he began to walk towards Shea.

Shea's eyes widened in fear; her instincts were right, once again. Rachael did have a helper all this time... it was her own son. Millions of thoughts swam through Shea's mind as she remained paralyzed; she could do nothing but stand and watch as Luke approached her with the sharpened blade.

Suddenly, Luke lunged forward, the blade pointing directly towards Shea's heart.

A scream rang out in the boathouse.

Dale Mooney had jumped in front of Shea just in time. In an uncharacteristically courageous move, Dale had taken the fall for Shea. The knife dug deep into his skin; he could feel it puncture an organ. Shea screamed as her eyes grew even wider; she couldn't even comprehend what was happening.

"Run, Shea! Get out of here!" gasped Dale, barely able to speak.

Without even thinking twice, Shea sprinted out the open door of the boathouse, running away as fast as she could.

"You little bastard," mumbled Luke angrily as he looked at the man who wasn't his intended target.

But then Luke grinned. It didn't matter; another life was now slipping away because of him. He dug the knife deeper into Dale's chest, and Dale coughed, blood trickling out of his mouth. Slowly, Luke started leading Dale toward the corpse of his boyfriend, Ryan, which was still laying motionless in the corner of the boathouse.

His vision blurring, Dale still managed to see where Luke was leading him. Tears started to form in his eyes as he got a glimpse of Ryan. Dale suddenly started to feel his presence; he felt Ryan's warmth, his love, reaching out to him.

"I'm here, baby..." Ryan's voice echoed inside Dale's mind.

And in Dale's last moments of life, he smiled. He was going to be reunited with Ryan, and he couldn't have felt happier.

Luke chuckled softly as Dale died in his arms. He slowly pulled the bloody knife out of the corpse, then threw it clumsily on top of Ryan as the blood from Dale's wound poured out.

"I hope you two will be very happy together," said Luke with a cynical smirk as he looked at the two dead bodies, wiped the blood off his knife, and exited the boathouse.

Shea Allen.

Graham Deeley.

Yulissa White.

There were only three people left for him to kill.

He was almost finished.

* * *

Shea Allen ran.

Despite wearing flats that hindered her speed on the rocky beach and a large overcoat that flapped in the wind, Shea ran as fast as her legs would allow.

She imagined herself running towards Madison. She saw her daughter at the end of the beach, her arms outstretched, waiting for her mother to return safely home.

"Madison... Madison..." Shea panted, tears streaming down her face as she continued to run down the seemingly never-ending beach.

Luke Bingham was not far behind. His knife was gripped tightly in his hand, waiting to be used on its next victim. Shea Allen needed to die.

* * *

_**[FLASHBACK]**_

_**CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - 2 MONTHS AGO**_

_"I just got word that Shea Allen is going to be there," Rachael said to her son as she once again entered his room and locked the door behind her. It was another one of the mother and son's meetings to work out every detail of their plan for the upcoming wedding._

_"Shea Allen? Who the hell is that?" said Luke._

_Rachael paused for a few moments. She thought of Henry Dunn, the man she had hooked up with in college. The man she had fallen for. The man she admired. Rachael was one of the very few people that knew that Henry Dunn was in fact the son of John Wakefield, the infamous murderer, and she had the distinction of being the only person to know that Wakefield had been training Henry, teaching him how to kill, teaching him how to unleash his anger on another human being._

_And Rachael had strongly admired that about Henry Dunn._

_She had been thrilled to hear about Henry and Wakefield wreaking havoc on the Wellington-Dunn wedding ten years ago, but was also furious to find out that people had escaped. Abby Mills, Jimmy Mance, Madison Allen, and Shea Allen had all gotten away._

_Not only did Rachael want to kill these people for her own personal gain, but she wanted to help Henry, to finish what he started._

_"Shea Allen survived the Harper's Island wedding massacre ten years ago. She got away from Henry Dunn," said Rachael through clenched teeth, clearly steaming with anger._

_Luke, who had known all about his mother's fling with Henry, simply nodded his head. "Right. So we go after Shea first?"_

_"No," snapped Rachael. "We lure her into a false sense of security. We save her as one of the last. I want her to suffer as much as possible before we finally kill her. She deserves to suffer after ruining Henry's plans."_

* * *

Luke had taken note of his mother's wishes. Though he had plenty of opportunities to do so, he resisted killing Shea Allen; he knew his mother wanted to watch her suffer.

But when Rachael had broken into the boathouse, it was the perfect time to finally kill Shea. It was clear she had suffered enough and she needed to die. She was starting to get too close to escaping the island again. But that was when Rachael broke down. Her emotions took over. She no longer wanted to kill Shea; she wanted to end the killing there.

Luke knew better. He knew his mother truly wanted Shea dead. And that's what he was going to do right now.

* * *

Graham and Yulissa reached the boathouse and ran inside. It took them a few seconds to notice Dale's dead body laying face-down on top of Ryan's.

"Oh my God," breathed Yulissa. "Where's Shea?"

"She must've escaped," concluded Graham, anger still written all over his face.

Trying not to waste any time, Graham went to the radio and picked up the mouthpiece.

"Hey, this is Graham Deeley. Where are you guys?" he snapped.

A bit of static was heard before a voice came out of the radio.

"We're almost there, Harper's Island. Fifteen minutes at the most. Hang tight."

Graham exhaled deeply as he slammed the mouthpiece on the table. With his gun still in hand, he motioned to Yulissa as he headed out the door.

"Come on. Let's end this once and for all."

* * *

It was a small log that changed everything.

Shea Allen had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't been paying enough attention to her surroundings. And as she continued to run down the beach, a small log got in her way and caused her to trip and fall, face first, onto the rocky beach.

Her face was all scratched up from the fall. She started cursing under her breath at her own stupidity and realized that that one mental lapse could cost her her life.

Shea turned over onto her back and placed her hand on her forehead, wet with blood; she was too dazed and disoriented to get back up and continue running.

That was when she saw Luke Bingham slowly approach her and stop mere inches away, towering over her and holding his knife while grinning wickedly at her.

"You've definitely got nine lives, Shea Allen," he said as he continued to smirk at her. "You've gotten out of death more than I've ever seen. You should feel damn lucky for that."

Shea didn't respond. She simply lay there, staring up at Luke, breathing heavily, her heart throbbing against her chest.

"I know you kinda thought of my mom as a good friend, right? You two hung out a lot in the beginning of the week. You guys seemed to hit it off pretty well. But just F.Y.I., she wasn't your friend. She wanted you dead more than anyone else on this whole damn island. You got away the first time. You got away from the first guy she ever fell in love with. You got away from Henry Dunn and she was pissed at you for that."

Shea's breathing intensified as Luke bent over, getting closer to her face.

"My mom and I, we've both had pretty similar lives. We both grew up with shitty fathers, and because of that our childhoods were totally thrown to the shitter. You don't know what it's like to feel like your whole life's meaningless. Nobody on this island knew what that was like. Everyone here had something to live for. They had friends and family who loved 'em, and me and Rachael? We had nobody, just each other. So we worked together. We wanted everyone here to feel more pain than either of us have felt in our whole lives. We knew that in the end, that would make us feel better. Maybe give a little more meaning to our lives, to know that other people are suffering more than us."

Shea shook her head in disgust, but her vision was still blurry, she still felt disoriented, and she still lay face-up on the rocky beach, staring at Luke as he inched closer to her. She could start to feel his hot breath on her face.

"And I think you, Shea Allen, have probably suffered more than anyone here on the island. You've lived not only through one, but two massacres on this island." He paused, then smiled. "That fucking sucks."

Shea could feel the rage start to build up inside her. Every word that was coming out of Luke's mouth was pissing her off.

"So, because of that, I feel pretty damn good." He paused again, inching even closer to Shea's face, looking her straight in the eye. "But now? Your time's up."

He flashed a smile at Shea.

"By the way, you're pretty fucking hot. Maybe I'll bang you after I kill you."

Luke let out a cynical laugh as he pulled his knife out.

But then, suddenly, Shea lifted her legs and kicked Luke straight in the stomach. The force of the attack sent him flying backwards a few feet and he landed hard on his behind, then slammed his head on the rocks of the beach.

"Fuck!" he cursed, sitting up and holding the back of his head in pain.

Shea had now risen to her feet. She had no weapons, nothing more to attack Luke with, but she had been consumed by anger and determination. She wanted nothing more right now than to kill Luke Bingham.

Her eyes burned with rage as she stared Luke down. He removed his hand from the back of his head and looked at it; there was a bit of blood on his fingers, and then he, too, looked at Shea with anger burning in his eyes.

"So that's how you wanna play, huh? Bad idea, Shea Allen."

Luke jumped to his feet and ran toward Shea.

A yelp was heard.

Luke and Shea's bodies were pressed together. Luke had one hand on Shea's back while the other held his knife, which was now inside Shea Allen.

She gasped for air, her eyes wide, her arms limp at her sides.

'No... no... this can't be happening...' she thought to herself.

Luke laughed to himself as he drove the knife deeper into Shea's chest.

"You are such a dumb bitch, you know that?" he whispered in her ear.

Shea began to cry. She began to think of everyone who had been killed at the hands of this monster, Luke Bingham, and his evil mother over the past week. She thought of all her loved ones that had died at the hands of Henry Dunn and his crazed father, John Wakefield, ten years ago.

And then, she thought of her daughter. Her smiling face. Her sweet disposition. Her innocent laugh.

'Madison... I'm sorry... I love you...'

Shea's breath began to stagger as she sniffed, tears still trickling from her eyes.

And then, she was gone.

When Luke no longer felt a pulse, he pulled the knife out of Shea and her body fell to the ground. He smiled down at the corpse and smiled, proud of his accomplishment, proud that he had done what his mother had wanted, proud that he had helped to finish what Henry Dunn had started.

Shea Allen was dead.

"That really is one hot piece of ass," Luke said to himself as he grinned, lightly kicking Shea's body.

All was quiet. Luke proudly wiped the blood off his knife, and he turned around, ready to find the two people that remained.

But he stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw what was in front of him.

There stood Graham Deeley and Yulissa White. Graham pointed his shotgun directly at Luke, while Yulissa stood angrily by his side, her hands on her hips.

Luke chuckled nervously as he raised his hands in the air. He knew he knife was no match against a shotgun.

"H-hey guys..."

"Hope you rot in hell, you little shit," said Graham.

BOOM!

With a simple pull of the trigger, Graham Deeley shot his nephew square in the chest. Luke was thrown backward a few feet from the force of the blast. He landed on the rocks and slid backward another foot or two, a gaping hole in his stomach, blood splattered everywhere.

Just like that, it was over.

* * *

Less than twenty minutes had gone by before the Coast Guard boat had arrived on the beach. Three officers were on board, all of whom had to ask Graham and Yulissa several questions before taking them off the island.

Finally, the two sole survivors of the Harper's Island murders boarded the boat, and they sat side-by-side at the stern as the boat began to rev up, Graham's arm wrapped tightly around Yulissa as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Yulissa thought of everything that had happened over the last few days. All the lives that were lost. All the pain and suffering everyone had gone through. But in the end, she and Graham made it out. They had survived.

To Yulissa, it almost felt like fate.

The boat's motor sprung to life and the island slowly faded out in the distance. Yulissa briefly looked over her shoulder, making sure she could no longer see the godforsaken island. She placed her head back on Graham's shoulder.

"Graham..." she said, mustering up the courage to say those three words she had been longing to say her entire life. "I love you."

She didn't expect a response, and she didn't get one. She understood that Graham had just lost his fiance, among countless other loved ones, and that it was illogical to think that he would reciprocate that love for her.

But as Graham kissed her forehead and the boat sped towards the mainland, towards freedom, Yulissa felt a glimmer of hope that, through all the madness she had experienced over the past week, she would still be able to fulfill her lifelong dream.

Graham Deeley and Yulissa White set off into the sunset.

And the days of Harper's Island were now nothing but a memory.


End file.
